37 research outputs found
Infrared evidence of a Slater metal-insulator transition in NaOsO3
The magnetically driven metal-insulator transition (MIT) was predicted by
Slater in the fifties. Here a long-range antiferromagnetic (AF) order can open
up a gap at the Brillouin electronic band boundary regardless of the Coulomb
repulsion magnitude. However, while many low-dimensional organic conductors
display evidence for an AF driven MIT, in three-dimensional (3D) systems the
Slater MIT still remains elusive. We employ terahertz and infrared spectroscopy
to investigate the MIT in the NaOsO3 3D antiferromagnet. From the optical
conductivity analysis we find evidence for a continuous opening of the energy
gap, whose temperature dependence can be well described in terms of a second
order phase transition. The comparison between the experimental Drude spectral
weight and the one calculated through Local Density Approximation (LDA) shows
that electronic correlations play a limited role in the MIT. All the
experimental evidence demonstrates that NaOsO3 is the first known 3D Slater
insulator.Comment: 4 figure
Transmittance and reflectance measurements at terahertz frequencies on a superconducting BaFe_{1.84}Co_{0.16}As_2 ultrathin film: an analysis of the optical gaps in the Co-doped BaFe_2As_2 pnictide
Here we report an optical investigation in the terahertz region of a 40 nm
ultrathin BaFeCoAs superconducting film with
superconducting transition temperature T = 17.5 K. A detailed analysis of
the combined reflectance and transmittance measurements showed that the optical
properties of the superconducting system can be described in terms of a
two-band, two-gap model. The zero temperature value of the large gap
, which seems to follow a BCS-like behavior, results to be
(0) = 17 cm. For the small gap, for which (0) = 8
cm, the temperature dependence cannot be clearly established. These gap
values and those reported in the literature for the BaFeCoAs
system by using infrared spectroscopy, when put together as a function of
T, show a tendency to cluster along two main curves, providing a unified
perspective of the measured optical gaps. Below a temperature around 20 K, the
gap-sizes as a function of T seem to have a BCS-like linear behavior, but
with different slopes. Above this temperature, both gaps show different
supra-linear behaviors
Interband characterization and electronic transport control of nanoscaled GeTe/SbTe superlattices
The extraordinary electronic and optical properties of the
crystal-to-amorphous transition in phase-change materials led to important
developments in memory applications. A promising outlook is offered by
nanoscaling such phase-change structures. Following this research line, we
study the interband optical transmission spectra of nanoscaled
GeTe/SbTe chalcogenide superlattice films. We determine, for films with
varying stacking sequence and growth methods, the density and scattering time
of the free electrons, and the characteristics of the valence-to-conduction
transition. It is found that the free electron density decreases with
increasing GeTe content, for sub-layer thickness below 3 nm. A simple
band model analysis suggests that GeTe and SbTe layers mix, forming a
standard GeSbTe alloy buffer layer. We show that it is possible to control the
electronic transport properties of the films by properly choosing the
deposition layer thickness and we derive a model for arbitrary film stacks
Erratum: A microscopic view on the Mott transition in chromium-doped V 2 O 3
Nature Communications 1, Article number: 105 (2010); published: 02 November 2010; updated: 17 January 2012. In Figure 2 of this Article, panel labels c and d were inadvertently switched. A typographical error was also introduced in the last sentence of the legend, which should have read 'The scale bar in panel c represents 10 μm'
Photon diagnostics at the FLASH THz beamline
The THz beamline at FLASH, DESY, provides both tunable (1–300 THz) narrow-bandwidth (∼10%) and broad-bandwidth intense (up to 150 uJ) THz pulses delivered in 1 MHz bursts and naturally synchronized with free-electron laser X-ray pulses. Combination of these pulses, along with the auxiliary NIR and VIS ultrashort lasers, supports a plethora of dynamic investigations in physics, material science and biology. The unique features of the FLASH THz pulses and the accelerator source, however, bring along a set of challenges in the diagnostics of their key parameters: pulse energy, spectral, temporal and spatial profiles. Here, these challenges are discussed and the pulse diagnostic tools developed at FLASH are presented. In particular, a radiometric power measurement is presented that enables the derivation of the average pulse energy within a pulse burst across the spectral range, jitter-corrected electro-optical sampling for the full spectro-temporal pulse characterization, spatial beam profiling along the beam transport line and at the sample, and a lamellar grating based Fourier transform infrared spectrometer for the on-line assessment of the average THz pulse spectra. Corresponding measurement results provide a comprehensive insight into the THz beamline capabilities
Non-linear THz studies at the TeraFERMI beamline
The THz fields are used to achieve THz control of matter and to push materials well into their nonlinear regime. THz nonlinearities are particularly pronounced in Dirac materials, because of their non-conventional band-structure properties. We report here on the THz nonlinear electrodynamics of the topological insulator Bi2Se3 and on layered black phosphorus, thus highlighting the role of band dispersion in shaping the nonlinear properties
Sequential dissociation of insulin amyloids probed by high pressure Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy
High pressure (HP) Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy has been here employed to investigate the thermodynamic stability of bovine pancreatic insulin (BPI) amyloids. Once the aggregation reaction has started, the backbone arrangement of the proteins forming the amyloid is known to reach a stationary phase in a few hours; after this time the infrared absorption of fibrils becomes stable. It is here shown how further stabilization of the structure during the stationary phase can be probed via FTIR spectroscopy, through the observation of the high pressure behaviour of fibrils formed at different maturation stages. We report on the high pressure fragmentation of insulin amyloids, probed on fibrils formed in the early stages of the stationary phase. Moreover, we noticed a sequentiality high pressure dissociation that seems to respect a pre-existing hierarchy of structures: the stabilization of a protofibrillar state is observed at pressures in the order of a few kbar and our results suggest the possible occurrence of a partial refolding, induced by pressures up to 11.4 kbar. Our findings remark the importance of high pressure in stabilizing intermediate structures and in evaluating the driving forces of fibrillation, demonstrating how the control of electrostatic interactions and hydrophobic effects can be used to characterize the factors that modulate amyloids stability