No Arabic abstract
(TMTTF)2AsF6 undergoes two phase transitions upon cooling from 300 K. At Tco=103 K a charge-ordering (CO) occurs, and at Tsp(B=9 T)=11 K the material undergoes a spin-Peierls (SP) transition. Within the intermediate, CO phase, the charge disproportionation ratio is found to be at least 3:1 from carbon-13 NMR 1/T1 measurements on spin-labeled samples. Above Tsp, up to about 3Tsp, 1/T1 is independent of temperature, indicative of low-dimensional magnetic correlations. With the application of about 0.15 GPa pressure, Tsp increases substantially, while Tco is rapidly suppressed, demonstrating that the two orders are competing. The experiments are compared to results obtained from calculations on the 1D extended Peierls-Hubbard model.
The occurrences of collective quantum states, such as superconductivity (SC) and charge- or spin-densitywaves (CDWs or SDWs), are among the most fascinating phenomena in solids. To date much effort has been made to explore the interplay between different orders, yet little is known about the relationship of multiple orders of the same type. Here we report optical spectroscopy study on CDWs in the rare-earth tri-telluride compounds RTe3 (R = rare earth elements). Besides the prior reported two CDW orders, the study reveals unexpectedly the presence of a third CDW order in the series which evolves systematically with the size of R element. With increased chemical pressure, the first and third CDW orders are both substantially suppressed and compete with the second one by depleting the low energy spectral weight. A complete phase diagram for the multiple CDW orders in this series is established.
We present the high-temperature (70 K < T < 300 K) resistivity anisotropy and Hall effect measurements of the quasi-one-dimensional (1D) organic conductor (TMTTF)2AsF6. The temperature variations of the resistivity are pronouncedly different for the three different directions, with metallic-like at high temperatures for the a-axis only. Above 220 K the Hall coefficient R_H is constant, positive and strongly enhanced over the expected value; and the corresponding carrier concentration is almost 100 times lower than calculated for one hole/unit cell. Our results give evidence for the existence of a high-temperature regime above 200 K where the 1D Luttinger liquid features appear in the transport properties. Our measurements also give strong evidence of charge ordering in (TMTTF)2AsF6. At the charge-ordering transition T_{CO} approx 100 K, R_H(T) abruptly changes its behavior, switches sign and rapidly increases with further temperature decrease.
The quasi one-dimensional organic conductor (TMTTF)2AsF6 shows the charge ordering transition at Tc101K to a state of the ferroelectric Mott insulator which is still well conducting. We present and interpret the experimental data on the gigantic dielectric response in the vicinity of TCO, concentrating on the frequency dependence of the inverse $1/epsilon$ of the complex permittivity $epsilon=epsilon^prime+iepsilon^{primeprime}$. Surprisingly for a ferroelectric, we could closely approach the 2nd order phase transition and to deeply reach the critical dynamics of the polarization. We could analyse the critical slowing-down when approaching Tc from both sides and to extract the anomalous power law for the frequency dependence of the order parameter viscosity. Moreover, below Tc we could extract a sharp absorption feature coming from a motion of domain walls which shows up at a frequency well below the relaxation rate.
We study the charge and spin density distributions of excitonic insulator (EI) states in the tight-binding approximation. We first discuss the charge and spin densities of the EI states when the valence and conduction bands are composed of orthogonal orbitals in a single atom. We show that the anisotropic charge or spin density distribution occurs in a unit cell (or atom) and a higher rank electric or magnetic multipole moment becomes finite, indicating that the EI state corresponds to the multipole order. A full description of the multipole moments for the $s$, $p$, and $d$ orbitals is then given in general. We find that, in contrast to the conventional density-wave states, the modulation of the total charge or net magnetization does not appear in this case. However, when the conduction and valence bands include the component of the same orbital, the modulation of the total charge or net magnetization appears, as in the conventional density-wave state. We also discuss the electron density distribution in the EI state when the valence and conduction bands are composed of orbitals located in different atoms. We show that the excitonic ordering in this case corresponds to the bond order formation. Based on the results thus obtained we discuss the EI states of real materials recently reported.
We have performed a series of neutron diffuse scattering measurements on a single crystal of the solid solution Pb(Zn$_{1/3}$Nb$_{2/3}$)O$_3$ (PZN) doped with 8% PbTiO$_3$ (PT), a relaxor compound with a Curie temperature T$_C sim 450$ K, in an effort to study the change in local polar orders from the polar nanoregions (PNR) when the material enters the ferroelectric phase. The diffuse scattering intensity increases monotonically upon cooling in zero field, while the rate of increase varies dramatically around different Bragg peaks. These results can be explained by assuming that corresponding changes occur in the ratio of the optic and acoustic components of the atomic displacements within the PNR. Cooling in the presence of a modest electric field $vec{E}$ oriented along the [111] direction alters the shape of diffuse scattering in reciprocal space, but does not eliminate the scattering as would be expected in the case of a classic ferroelectric material. This suggests that a field-induced redistribution of the PNR has taken place.