Complexation of lithium and sodium cations with B-phosphorylate ethers, modelling terminal groups of organophosphorus podands. An experimental and theoretical study

The organophosphorus compounds o-Ph2P(O)C6H4OCH3 and Ph2P(O)C2H4OCH3, which are analogs of podands' terminal groups, have been synthesized. The thermodynamic characteristics of their complexation with LiNCS and NaNCS in acetonitrile were obtained by calorimetry. Molecular mechanics calculations on M+ L complexes with different stoichiometries M+:L = 1:1, 1:2 and 1:4 (M+ = Li+, Na+) were performed, as well as on their solvates with a limited number of MeCN molecules. It has been shown that the experimental data could be explained by taking into account both the specific features of the complex structure and the solvent effects. The possibility of the application of additive schemes in the investigation of the complexation of polydentate molecules is discussed

Theory for the coupling between longitudinal phonons and intrinsic Josephson oscillations in layered superconductors

In this publication a microscopic theory for the coupling of intrinsic Josephson oscillations in layered superconductors with longitudinal c-axis-phonons is developed. It is shown that the influence of lattice vibrations on the c-axis transport can be fully described by introducing an effective longitudinal dielectric function. Resonances in the I-V-characteristic appear at van Hove singularities of both acoustical and optical longitudinal phonon branches. This provides a natural explanation of the recently discovered subgap structures in the I-V-characteristic of highly anisotropic cuprate superconductors. The effect of the phonon dispersion on the damping of these resonances and the coupling of Josephson oscillations in different resistive junctions due to phonons are discussed in detail.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev. B, corrections following referee repor

Selective coherent excitation of charge density waves

Real time femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy is used to study collective and single particle excitations in the charge density wave state of the quasi-1D metal, blue bronze. Along with the previously observed collective amplitudon excitation, the spectra show several additional coherent features. These additional resonances can be excited selectively by applying a sequence of pump pulses with intervals tuned to the period of the particular coherent excitation. A study of the pump power dependence shows a non-linear response of the amplitudon mode, in contrast to the linear power dependence of the single particle, phonon, and phason excitations, which is ascribed to the electron-amplitudon elastic scattering

Structural, electronic, and magneto-optical properties of YVO3_3

Optical and magneto-optical properties of YVO$_3$ single crystal were studied in FIR, visible, and UV regions. Two structural phase transitions at 75 K and 200 K were observed and established to be of the first and second order, respectively. The lattice has an orthorhombic $Pbnm$ symmetry both above 200 K as well as below 75 K, and is found to be dimerized monoclinic $Pb11$ in between. We identify YVO$_3$ as a Mott-Hubbard insulator with the optical gap of 1.6 eV. The electronic excitations in the visible spectrum are determined by three $d$-bands at 1.8, 2.4, and 3.3 eV, followed by the charge-transfer transitions at about 4 eV. The observed structure is in good agreement with LSDA+$U$ band structure calculations. By using ligand field considerations, we assigned these bands to the transitions to the $^4A_{2g}$, $^2E_{g} + ^2T_{1g}$, and $^2T_{2g}$ states. The strong temperature dependence of these bands is in agreement with the formation of orbital order. Despite the small net magnetic moment of 0.01 $\mu_B$ per vanadium, the Kerr effect of the order of $0.01^\circ$ was observed for all three $d$-bands in the magnetically ordered phase $T_{\text{N\'eel}}<116 K$. A surprisingly strong enhancement of the Kerr effect was found below 75 K, reaching a maximum of $0.1^\circ$. The effect is ascribed to the non-vanishing net orbital magnetic moment.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Approximate tight-binding sum rule for the superconductivity related change of c-axis kinetic energy in multilayer cuprate superconductors

We present an extension of the c-axis tight-binding sum rule discussed by Chakravarty, Kee, and Abrahams [Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 2366 (1999)] that applies to multilayer high-Tc cuprate superconductors (HTCS) and use it to estimate--from available infrared data--the change below Tc of the c-axis kinetic energy, Hc, in YBa2Cu3O(7-delta) (delta=0.45,0.25,0.07), Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8, and Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10. In all these compounds Hc decreases below Tc and except for Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 the change of Hc is of the same order of magnitude as the condensation energy. This observation supports the hypothesis that in multilayer HTCS superconductivity is considerably amplified by the interlayer tunnelling mechanism.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure