THEORETICAL ELECTRON-POSITRON ZONE-REDUCED MOMENTUM DENSITY FOR YBA2CU3O7 - FERMI-SURFACE AND WAVE-FUNCTION EFFECTS

Using the linearized augmented-plane-wave (LAPW) -calculated electron and positron charge densities for YBa2Cu3O7, the Brillouin-zone-reduced electron-positron momentum density is computed and the zone-reduced two-dimensional angular correlation of annihilation radiation (2D ACAR) spectrum is produced. The calculations show that the relative weights of the Fermi-surface discontinuities are substantially altered due to the positron preferentially sampling the Cu-O chain region. In addition, the reduced 2D ACAR spectrum contains large k-dependent wave-function effects. The theoretical zone-reduced 2D ACAR spectrum is compared to the several existing experimental spectra. It is concluded that, at present, positron-annihilation experiments do not provide consistent and clear evidence for the existence and shapes of Fermi surfaces in YBa2Cu3O7. © 1990 The American Physical Society.