Strong excitonic interactions in the oxygen K-edge of perovskite oxides.

Abstract

Excitonic interactions of the oxygen K-edge electron energy-loss near-edge structure (ELNES) of perovskite oxides, CaTiO3, SrTiO3, and BaTiO3, together with reference oxides, MgO, CaO, SrO, BaO, and TiO2, were investigated using a first-principles Bethe-Salpeter equation calculation. Although the transition energy of oxygen K-edge is high, strong excitonic interactions were present in the oxygen K-edge ELNES of the perovskite oxides, whereas the excitonic interactions were negligible in the oxygen K-edge ELNES of the reference compounds. Detailed investigation of the electronic structure suggests that the strong excitonic interaction in the oxygen K-edge ELNES of the perovskite oxides is caused by the directionally confined, low-dimensional electronic structure at the Ti-O-Ti bonds.