Investigation of unoccupied electronic states of LaCoO${}_3$ and PrCoO${}_3$ using inverse photoemission spectroscopy and GGA + $U$ calculations

The unoccupied electronic states of LaCoO${}_3$ and PrCoO${}_3$ are studied using room temperature inverse photoemission spectroscopy and \emph{ab initio} GGA+$\mathit{\text{U}}$ band structure calculations. A fairly good agreement between experiment and theory is obtained. The intensity of the peak just above the Fermi-level is found to be very much sensitive to the hybridization of Co 3$d$ and O 2$p$ orbitals. Moreover, the band just above the Fermi-level is of Co 3$d$ character with little contribution from O 2$p$ states.