Bulk electronic properties of V2O3 probed by hard X-ray photoelectron spectrosscopy

We have measured bulk sensitive photoemission spectra of pure vanadium sesquioxide (V2O3) in its metallic phase as a function of different surface preparations. We observe the presence of a clear coherent peak in the vicinity of the Fermi level and of satellites intensities at the V 2p core level. After scraping, the coherent intensities are almost completely suppressed in both core level and valence band. Our results suggest a remarkable change of the screening properties in strongly correlated systems when going from the surface to the volume. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.