Electronic signatures of successive itinerant, antiferromagnetic transitions in hexagonal La₂Ni₇

We use high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations to study the electronic and magnetic properties of La2Ni7, an itinerant magnetic system with a series of three magnetic transition temperatures upon cooling, which end in a weak antiferromagnetic ground state. Our APRES data reveal several electron and hole pockets that have hexagonal symmetry near the Gamma point. We observe significant reconstruction of the band structure upon successive magnetic transitions at T (1) similar to 61 K, T (2) similar to 57 K and T (3) similar to 42 K. Several features observed in ARPES data were reasonably well reproduced by DFT calculations, while others were not. In particular, the flat band near E ( F ) predicted by DFT in antiferromagnet (AFM) state, was seemingly absent in ARPES data. Our results detail the effects of magnetic ordering on the electronic structure in a Ni-based weak AFM and highlight challenges of current computational methods.