Understanding electronic structure of Bi(Pb)–Sr–Ca–Cu–O compounds by XANES

We report X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) of Cu and O K-edges of superconducting [Bi(Pb)](2)Sr2CaCu2O8+delta (Bi-2212) and [Bi(Pb)](2)Sr2Ca3Cu3O10+delta (Bi-2223) compounds. The spectral features of these two systems are compared based on existing assignments available in the literature. Spectroscopically, the intensity of Cu 1s --> 3d(x2-y2) from Cu K-edge spectra is different in these cuprates and the pre-edge peaks of O K-edges are better resolved in Bi-2223 attributed to arise from Cu-O, and metallic Bi-O layers. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.