Direct spectroscopic evidence for completely filled Cu 3d shell in BaCu2As2 and α-BaCu2Sb2

We use angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to extract the band dispersion and the Fermi surface of BaCu2As2 and α-BaCu2Sb2. While the Cu 3d bands in both materials are located around 3.5 eV below the Fermi level, the low-energy photoemission intensity mainly comes from As 4p states, suggesting a completely filled Cu 3d shell. The splitting of the As 3d core levels and the lack of pronounced three-dimensionality in the measured band structure of BaCu2As2 indicate a surface state likely induced by the cleavage of this material in the collapsed tetragonal phase, which is consistent with our observation of a Cu+1 oxidation state. However, the observation of Cu states at similar energy in α-BaCu2Sb2 without the pnictide-pnictide interlayer bonding characteristic of the collapsed tetragonal phase suggests that the short interlayer distance in BaCu2As2 follows from the stability of the Cu+1 rather than the other way around. Our results confirm the prediction that BaCu2As2 is an sp metal with weak electronic correlations.