Optical properties of MgCNi3MgCNi_3 in the normal state

We present the optical reflectance and conductivity spectra for non-oxide antiperovskite superconductor $MgCNi_{3}$ at different temperatures. The reflectance drops gradually over a large energy scale up to 33,000 cm$^{-1}$, with the presence of several wiggles. The reflectance has slight temperature dependence at low frequency but becomes temperature independent at high frequency. The optical conductivity shows a Drude response at low frequencies and four broad absorption features in the frequency range from 600 $cm^{-1}$ to 33,000 $cm^{-1}$. We illustrate that those features can be well understood from the intra- and interband transitions between different components of Ni 3d bands which are hybridized with C 2p bands. There is a good agreement between our experimental data and the first-principle band structure calculations.Comment: 4 pages, to be published in Phys. Rev.

First-principles calculations of a high-pressure synthesized compound PtC

First-principles density-functional method is used to study the recently high-pressure synthesized compound PtC. It is confirmed by our calculations that the platinum carbide has a zinc-blende ground-state phase at zero pressure and the rock-salt structure is a high-pressure phase. The theoretical transition pressure from zinc-blende to rock-salt is determined to be 52GPa. Furthermore, our calculation shows the possibility that the experimentally synthesized PtC by Ono et al. under high pressure condition might undergo a transition from rock-salt structure to zinc-blende after the pressure quench to ambient condition.Comment: A revised versio