Electronic structure of Eu and Yb graphite intercalation compounds

An angle-resolved photoemission (PE) study is performed on graphite intercalation compounds (GIC’s) with Eu and Yb prepared in situ by deposition of the pure metals onto single-crystalline graphite(0001) surfaces and subsequent annealing. The low-energy-electron-diffraction patterns reveal a sharp (√3×√3)R30° overstructure as observed for other rare-earth (RE) and alkali GIC’s. The PE data are in excellent agreement with local-density-approximation band-structure calculations for stage-2 GIC’s that indicate charge transfer of about 0.5 electrons per RE atom into graphite-derived states of π symmetry. This charge transfer is caused by an energetical lowering of the graphite-derived π bands and leads to the appearance of an intense Fermi-level structure in the PE spectra taken around the K(${\mathrm{\Gamma }}^{\prime }$) point of the Brillouin zone. Admixtures of rare-earth-derivedd states are found close to the Fermi energy in the region of the Γ and the ${\mathit{M}}^{\prime }$ points. © 1996 The American Physical Society.