Manifestations of the electron-phonon interaction range in angle resolved photoemission spectra

Numerous angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) studies of a wide class of low-density metallic systems, ranging from doped transition metal oxides to quasi-two-dimensional interfaces between insulators, exhibit phonon sidebands below the quasiparticle peak as a unique hallmark of polaronic correlations. Here, we single out properties of ARPES spectra that can provide a robust estimate of the effective range (screening length) of the electron-phonon interaction, regardless of the limited experimental resolution, dimensionality, and particular features of the electronic structure, facilitating a general methodology for an analysis of a whole class of materials.