Abstract
The electronic structure of ThPd2Al3, which is isostructural to the heavy fermion superconductor UPd2Al3, was investigated by photoelectron spectroscopy. The band structure and Fermi surfaces of ThPd2Al3 were obtained by angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES), and the results were well explained by the band-structure calculation based on the local density approximation.
The comparison between the ARPES spectra and the band-structure calculation suggests that the Fermi surface of ThPd2Al3 mainly consists of the Al 3p and Th 6d states with a minor contribution from the Pd 4d states. The comparison of the band structures between ThPd2Al3 and UPd2Al3 argues that the U 5f states form Fermi surfaces in UPd2Al3 through hybridization with the Al 3p state in the Al layer, suggesting that the Fermi surface of UPd2Al3 has a strong three-dimensional nature.