We report strong instantaneous photoinduced absorption in the quasi-onedimensional Mott insulator Sr 2 CuO 3 in the IR spectral region. The observed photoinduced absorption is to an even-parity two-photon state that occurs immediately above the absorption edge. Theoretical calculation based on a two-band extended Hubbard model explains the experimental features and indicates that the strong two-photon absorption is due to a very large dipolecoupling between nearly degenerate one-and two-photon states. Room temperature picosecond recovery of the optical transparency suggests the strong potential of Sr 2 CuO 3 for all-optical switching.Typeset using REVT E X 1

We use inelastic neutron scattering to study the low-energy spin excitations of the 112-type iron pnictide Ca_{0.82}La_{0.18}Fe_{0.96}Ni_{0.04}As_{2} with bulk superconductivity below T_{c}=22  K. A two-dimensional spin resonance mode is found around E=11  meV, where the resonance energy is almost temperature independent and linearly scales with T_{c} along with other iron-based superconductors. Polarized neutron analysis reveals the resonance is nearly isotropic in spin space without any L modulations. Because of the unique monoclinic structure with additional zigzag arsenic chains, the As 4p orbitals contribute to a three-dimensional hole pocket around the Γ point and an extra electron pocket at the X point. Our results suggest that the energy and momentum distribution of the spin resonance does not directly respond to the k_{z} dependence of the fermiology, and the spin resonance intrinsically is a spin-1 mode from singlet-triplet excitations of the Cooper pairs in the case of weak spin-orbital coupling.

Electron-electron interactions in general lead to both ground state and excited state confinement. We show, however, that in phenyl-substituted polyacetylenes electron-electron interactions cause enhanced delocalization of quasiparticles in the optically excited state from the backbone polyene chain into the phenyl groups, which in turn leads to enhanced confinement in the chain direction. This co-operative delocalization-confinement lowers the energy of the one-photon state and raises the relative energy of the lowest two-photon state. The two-photon state is slightly below the optical state in mono-phenyl substituted polyacetylenes, but above the optical state in di-phenyl substituted polyacetylenes, thereby explaining the strong photoluminescence of the latter class of materials. We present a detailed mechanism of the crossover in the energies of the one-and two-photon states in these systems. In addition, we calculate the optical absorption spectra over a wide wavelength region, and make specific predictions for the polarizations of low and high energy transitions that can be tested on oriented samples. Within existing theories of light emission from π-conjugated polymers, strong photoluminescence should be restricted to materials whose optical gaps are larger than that of trans-polyacetylene. The present work show that conceptually at least, it is possible to have light emission from systems with smaller optical gaps. 42.70.Jk,71.20.Rv,78.30.Jw

Within a rigid-band correlated electron model for oligomers of poly-͑paraphenylene͒ ͑PPP͒ and poly͑paraphenylenevinylene͒ ͑PPV͒, we show that there exist two fundamentally different classes of two-photon A g states in these systems to which photoinduced absorption ͑PA͒ can occur. At relatively lower energies there occur A g states which are superpositions of one electron-one hole (1e -1h) and two electron-two hole (2e -2h) excitations, that are both comprised of the highest delocalized valence-band and the lowest delocalized conduction-band states only. The dominant PA is to one specific member of this class of states ͑the mA g ). In addition to the above class of A g states, PA can also occur to a higher energy kA g state whose 2e -2h component is different and has significant contributions from excitations involving both delocalized and localized bands. Our calculated scaled energies of the mA g and the kA g agree reasonably well to the experimentally observed low-and high-energy PA's in PPV. The calculated relative intensities of the two PA's are also in qualitative agreement with experiment. In the case of ladder-type PPP and its oligomers, we predict from our theoretical work an intense PA at an energy considerably lower than the region where PA's have been observed currently. Based on earlier work that showed that efficient charge-carrier generation occurs upon excitation to odd-parity states that involve both delocalized and localized bands, we speculate that it is the characteristic electronic nature of the kA g that leads to charge generation subsequent to excitation to this state, as found experimentally.

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We report coexistence of high spin Co3+ and Co2+ in ceramic Co3TeO6 using X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES), DC magnetization, and first principles ab-initio calculations. The main absorption line of cobalt Co K-edge XANES spectra, along with a linear combination fit, led us to estimate relative concentration of Co2+ and Co3+as 60:40. The pre edge feature of XANES spectrum shows crystal field splitting of ∼1.26 eV between eg and t2g states, suggesting a mixture of high spin states of both Co2+ and Co3+. Temperature dependent high field DC magnetization measurements reveal dominant antiferromagnetic order with two Neel temperatures (TN1 ∼ 29 K and TN2 ∼ 18 K), consistent with single crystal study. A larger effective magnetic moment is observed in comparison to that reported for single crystal (which contains only Co2+), supports our inference that Co3+ exists in high spin state. Furthermore, we show that both Co2+ and Co3+ being in high spin states constitute a favorable ground state through first principles ab-initio calculations, where Rietveld refined synchrotron X-ray diffraction data are used as input.

Abstract:We present the results of Synchrotron XRD measurements on powdered single crystal samples of BaFe2-xRuxAs2, as a function of Ru content, and as a function of temperature, across the spin density wave transition in BaFe1.9Ru0.1As2. The Rietveld refinements reveal that with Ru substitution, while the a-axis increases, the c-axis decreases. In addition the variation of positional co-ordinates of As (zAs), the Fe-As bond length and the As-Fe-As bond angles have also been determined. In the sample with x=0.1, temperature dependent XRD measurements, indicate that the orthorhombicity shows the characteristic increase with decrease in temperature, below the magnetic transition. It is seen that the c-axis, the As-FeAs bond angles, Fe-As bond length and positional co-ordinate of the As show definite anomalies close to the structural transition. The observed anomalies in structural parameters are analysed in conjunction with geometric optimization of the structure using ab-initio electronic structure calculations.

We report observation of magneto-electric and magneto-dielectric couplings along with short range ferromagnetic order in ceramic Cobalt Tellurate (Co3TeO6, CTO) using magnetic, structural, dielectric, pyroelectric, and polarization studies. DC magnetization along with dielectric constant measurements indicate a coupling between magnetic order and electrical polarization. A strong anomaly in the dielectric constant at ∼17.4 K in zero magnetic field indicates spontaneous electric polarization, consistent with a recent neutron diffraction study. Observation of weak short range ferromagnetic order at lower temperatures is attributed to the Griffiths-like ferromagnetism. Furthermore, magnetic field dependence of the ferroelectric transition follows earlier theoretical predictions, applicable to single crystal CTO. Finally, combined dielectric, pyroelectric, and polarization measurements suggest that the ground state of CTO may possess spontaneous symmetry breaking in the absence of magnetic field.