Charge-density waves physics revealed by photoconduction
arXiv:1410.7002 · doi:10.1016/j.physb.2014.11.064
Abstract
The results of photoconduction study of the Peierls conductors are reviewed. The studied materials are quasi-one-dimensional conductors with the charge-density wave: KMoO, both monoclinic and orthorhombic TaS and also a semiconducting phase of NbS (phase I). Experimental methods, relaxation times, effects of illumination on linear and nonlinear charge transport, the electric-field effect on photoconduction and results of the spectral studies are described. We demonstrate, in particular, that a simple model of modulated energy gap slightly smoothed by fluctuations fits the available spectral data fairly well. The level of the fluctuations is surprisingly small and does not exceed a few percent of the optical energy gap value.
7 pages, 11 figures. To be published in Physica B