Resistive switching induced by electronic avalanche breakdown in GaTa4_4Se8−x_{8-x}Tex_x narrow gap Mott Insulators

Mott transitions induced by strong electric fields are receiving a growing interest. Recent theoretical proposals have focused on the Zener dielectric breakdown in Mott insulators, however experimental studies are still too scarce to conclude about the mechanism. Here we report a study of the dielectric breakdown in the narrow gap Mott insulators GaTa$_4$Se$_{8-x}$Te$_x$. We find that the I-V characteristics and the magnitude of the threshold electric field (E$_{th}$) do not correspond to a Zener breakdown, but rather to an avalanche breakdown. E$_{th}$ increases as a power law of the Mott Hubbard gap (E$_g$), in surprising agreement with the universal law E$_{th}$ $\propto$E$_g$$^{2.5}$ reported for avalanche breakdown in semiconductors. However, the delay time for the avalanche that we observe in Mott insulators is over three orders of magnitude longer than in conventional semiconductors. Our results suggest that the electric field induces local insulator-to-metal Mott transitions that create conductive domains which grow to form filamentary paths across the sample

Far- and mid-infrared emission and reflectivity of orthorhombic and cubic ErMn O 3: Polarons and bipolarons

We report on the high-temperature evolution of far- and mid-infrared reflectivity and emissivity spectra of ambient orthorhombic ErMnO3 from 12 K to sample decomposition above 1800 K. At low temperatures the number of phonons agrees with the predictions for orthorhombic space group D2h16-Pbnm (Z=4) and coexists with a paramagnon spin resonance and rare-earth crystal-field transitions. Increasing the temperature, a number of vibrational bands undergo profile broadening and softening approaching the orbital disordered phase where the orthorhombic Ó lower-temperature cooperative phase coexists with cubic-orthorhombic O. O-ErMnO3 undergoes a first-order order-disorder transition into the perovskite cubic phase at Tcubic∼1329K±20K where the three triple degenerate phonons allowed by the space group Pm-3m (Z=1) are identified. At about 800 K, a quantitative small polaron analysis of the orthorhombic midinfrared real part optical conductivity shows that antisymmetric and symmetric breathing modes sustain the strongest electron-phonon interactions. Above Tcubic the bipolaron fingerprint profile is the midinfrared dominant and only feature. Its appearance correlates with the localized screening of the highest vibrational mode reststrahlen band. We propose that the longitudinal optical mode macroscopic field screening is a consequence of dynamically sharing δ disproportioned eg electrons hovering over the Jahn-Teller distorted octahedral dimer {Mn(QJT)3+δ[Mn(QJT)[3]-δ]O6/2}2. A thermal driven insulator-metal transition is detected with onset ∼1600 K. We also address the occurrence of an inhomogeneity induced terahertz band result of heating the samples in dry air, triggering Mn3+-Mn4+ double exchange, under the presence of Mn4+ smaller ions stabilizing the orthorhombic lattice.Centro de Química Inorgánic

New Trends in Beverage Packaging Systems: A Review

New trends in beverage packaging are focusing on the structure modification of packaging materials and the development of new active and/or intelligent systems, which can interact with the product or its environment, improving the conservation of beverages, such as wine, juice or beer, customer acceptability, and food security. In this paper, the main nutritional and organoleptic degradation processes of beverages, such as oxidative degradation or changes in the aromatic profiles, which influence their color and volatile composition are summarized. Finally, the description of the current situation of beverage packaging materials and new possible, emerging strategies to overcome some of the pending issues are discussed

Polarized Raman scattering on single crystals of rare earth orthochromite RCrO 3 (R = La, Pr, Nd, and Sm)

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Phonon anharmonicity in disordered MgAl 2 O 4 spinel

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TTF-DDQ: Two "Green'' Synthetic Routes, Crystal Structure and Band Gap from FT-IR Spectroscopy

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Pulsed laser-deposited VO 2 thin films on Pt layers

International audienceVO2 films were deposited on Pt (111)/TiO2/SiO2/Si (001) substrates by means of a pulsed laser deposition technique. An x-ray diffraction peak at 2θ = 39.9° was deconvoluted into two pseudo-Voigt profiles of Pt (111) and VOx-originated components. The VOx diffraction peak was more obvious in a VOx/Pt (111)/Al2O3 (0001) sample, having a narrower width compared with a VO2/Al2O3 (0001) sample. Temperature-controlled Raman spectroscopy for the VOx/Pt/TiO2/SiO2/Si sample has revealed the monoclinic VO2 phase at low temperature and the structural phase transition at about 72 °C in a heating process. The electronic conductive nature at the high temperature phase was confirmed by near normal incidence infrared reflectivity measurements. Out-of-plane current-voltage characteristics showed an electric field-induced resistance switching at a voltage as low as 0.2 V for a 50 nm-thick film. A survey of present and previous results suggests an experimental law that the transition voltage of VO2 is proportional to the square root of the electrodes distance

Relation between Thermally Induced Structural Distortions and Electronic Properties of the Layered Misfit Chalcogenide (LaS)of the Layered Misfit Chalcogenide (LaS)1.196VS2

International audienceInterplay between electronic and structural properties of the misfit layered chalcogenide (LaS)(1.196)VS2 crystals was investigated by transport, optical measurements, angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES), Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. Although no clear anomaly is found in temperature-dependent transport measurements, a large spectral weight transfer, around 1 eV, is observed by both optical and photoemission spectroscopies. ARPES reveals a nearly filled band with negative curvature, close enough from the Fermi level at room temperature to produce metallic-like behavior as observed in optical conductivity spectra. At low temperature, the band structure is strongly modified, yielding to an insulating state with an optical gap of 120 meV. Both Raman spectroscopy and accurate (3 + 1)D analysis of X-ray diffraction data show that, although a phase transition does not occur, structural distortions increase as temperature is decreased, and vanadium clusterization is enhanced. We found that the changes of electronic properties and structure are intimately related. This indicates that structural distortion plays a major role in the insulating nature of (LaS)(1.196)VS2 and that electronic correlation may not be important, contrary to previous beliefs

Accessing New Charge-Transfer Complexes by Mechanochemistry: A Tetrathiafulvalene Chloranilic Acid Polymorph Containing Segregated Tetrathiafulvalene Stacks

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