216 research outputs found
Optical Properties of TiN Thin Films close to the Superconductor-Insulator Transition
We present the intrinsic optical properties over a broad spectral range of
TiN thin films deposited on a Si/SiO substrate. We analyze the measured
reflectivity spectra of the film-substrate multilayer structure within a
well-establish procedure based on the Fresnel equation and extract the real
part of the optical conductivity of TiN. We identify the metallic contribution
as well as the finite energy excitations and disentangle the spectral weight
distribution among them. The absorption spectrum of TiN bears some similarities
with the electrodynamic response observed in the normal state of the
high-temperature superconductors. Particularly, a mid-infrared feature in the
optical conductivity is quite reminiscent of a pseudogap-like excitation
Optical investigation of the metal-insulator transition in
We present a comprehensive optical study of the narrow gap
semiconductor. From the optical reflectivity, measured from the far infrared up
to the ultraviolet spectral range, we extract the complete absorption spectrum,
represented by the real part of the complex optical
conductivity. With decreasing temperature below 80 K, we find a progressive
depletion of below cm, the
semiconducting optical gap. The suppressed (Drude) spectral weight within the
gap is transferred at energies and also partially piles up over a
continuum of excitations extending in the spectral range between zero and
. Moreover, the interaction of one phonon mode with this continuum leads
to an asymmetric phonon shape. Even though several analogies between
and were claimed and a Kondo-insulator scenario was also invoked for
both systems, our data on differ in several aspects from those of
. The relevance of our findings with respect to the Kondo insulator
description will be addressed.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure
Electronic Structure and Charge Dynamics of Huesler Alloy Fe2TiSn Probed by Infrared and Optical Spectroscopy
We report on the electrodynamics of a Heusler alloy Fe2TiSn probed over four
decades in energy: from the far infrared to the ultraviolet. Our results do not
support the suggestion of Kondo-lattice behavior inferred from specific heat
measurements. Instead, we find a conventional Drude-like response of free
carriers, with two additional absorption bands centered at around 0.1 and 0.87
eV. The latter feature can be interpreted as excitations across a pseudogap, in
accord with band structure calculations.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figure
Dynamics of disordered heavy Fermion systems
Dynamics of the disordered heavy Fermion model of Dobrosavljevic et al. are
calculated using an expression for the spectral function of the Anderson model
which is consistent with quantum Monte Carlo results. We compute the
self-energy for three distributions of Kondo scales including the distribution
of Bernal et al. for UCu{5-x}Pd{x}. The corresponding low temperature optical
conductivity shows a low-frequency pseudogap, a negative optical mass
enhancement, and a linear in frequency transport scattering rate, consistent
with results in Y{1-x}U{x}Pd{3} and UCu{5-x}Pd{x}.Comment: 5 pages, LaTeX and 4 PS figure
Optical investigation of the metal-insulator transition in FeSb2
Abstract.: We present a comprehensive optical study of the narrow gap FeSb2 semiconductor. From the optical reflectivity, measured from the far infrared up to the ultraviolet spectral range, we extract the complete absorption spectrum, represented by the real part σ1(ω) of the complex optical conductivity. With decreasing temperature below 80K, we find a progressive depletion of σ1(ω) below Eg∼300 cm-1, the semiconducting optical gap. The suppressed (Drude) spectral weight within the gap is transferred at energies ω>Eg and also partially piles up over a continuum of excitations extending in the spectral range between zero and Eg. Moreover, the interaction of one phonon mode with this continuum leads to an asymmetric phonon shape. Even though several analogies between FeSb2 and FeSi were claimed and a Kondo-insulator scenario was also invoked for both systems, our data on FeSb2 differ in several aspects from those of FeSi. The relevance of our findings with respect to the Kondo insulator description will be addresse
Incommensurate Magnetic Order in TbTe
We report a neutron diffraction study of the magnetic phase transitions in
the charge-density-wave (CDW) TbTe compound. We discover that in the
paramagnetic phase there are strong 2D-like magnetic correlations, consistent
with the pronounced anisotropy of the chemical structure. A long-range
incommensurate magnetic order emerges in TbTe at = 5.78 K as a
result of continuous phase transitions. We observe that near the temperature
the magnetic Bragg peaks appear around the position (0,0,0.24) (or
its rational multiples), that is fairly close to the propagation vector
associated with the CDW phase transition in TbTe. This
suggests that correlations leading to the long-range magnetic order in TbTe
are linked to the modulations that occur in the CDW state
Optical Properties of Heavy Fermion Systems with SDW Order
The dynamical conductivity , reflectivity , and
tunneling density of states of strongly correlated systems (like
heavy fermions) with a spin-density wave (SDW) magnetic order are studied as a
function of impurity scattering rate and temperature. The theory is generalized
to include strong coupling effects in the SDW order. The results are discussed
in the light of optical experiments on heavy-fermion SDW materials. With some
modifications the proposed theory is applicable also to heavy fermions with
localized antiferromagnetic (LAF) order.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure
Electronic correlations in iron-pnictide superconductors and beyond; what can we learn from optics
The Coulomb repulsion, impeding electrons' motion, has an important impact on
the charge dynamics. It mainly causes a reduction of the effective metallic
Drude weight (proportional to the so-called optical kinetic energy),
encountered in the optical conductivity, with respect to the expectation within
the nearly-free electron limit (defining the so-called band kinetic energy), as
evinced from band-structure theory. In principle, the ratio between the optical
and band kinetic energy allows defining the degree of electronic correlations.
Through spectral weight arguments based on the excitation spectrum, we provide
an experimental tool, free from any theoretical or band-structure based
assumptions, in order to estimate the degree of electronic correlations in
several systems. We first address the novel iron-pnictide superconductors,
which serve to set the stage for our approach. We then revisit a large variety
of materials, ranging from superconductors, to Kondo-like systems as well as
materials close to the Mott-insulating state. As comparison we also tackle
materials, where the electron-phonon coupling dominates. We establish a direct
relationship between the strength of interaction and the resulting reduction of
the optical kinetic energy of the itinerant charge carriers
Magneto-optical evidence of double exchange in a percolating lattice
Substituting by in ferromagnetic leads to a percolation
limited magnetic ordering. We present and discuss magneto-optical data of the
series, based on measurements of the reflectivity
from the far infrared up to the ultraviolet, as a function of
temperature and magnetic field. Via the Kramers-Kronig transformation of
we extract the complete absorption spectra of samples with
different values of . The change of the spectral weight in the Drude
component by increasing the magnetic field agrees with a scenario based on the
double exchange model, and suggests a crossover from a ferromagnetic metal to a
ferromagnetic Anderson insulator upon increasing -content at low
temperatures.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
Optical investigation of the charge-density-wave phase transitions in
We have measured the optical reflectivity of the quasi
one-dimensional conductor from the far infrared up to the
ultraviolet between 10 and 300 using light polarized along and normal to
the chain axis. We find a depletion of the optical conductivity with decreasing
temperature for both polarizations in the mid to far-infrared region. This
leads to a redistribution of spectral weight from low to high energies due to
partial gapping of the Fermi surface below the charge-density-wave transitions
at 145 K and 59 K. We deduce the bulk magnitudes of the CDW gaps and discuss
the scattering of ungapped free charge carriers and the role of fluctuations
effects
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