A. S. Prokhorov

Observation of an intersublattice exchange magnon in CoCr2O4 and analysis of magnetic ordering

= 250÷1230 GHz = 1÷5meV)andattemperaturesbetween4and300K.Theradiationwaslinearlypolarized.Theabsolutevaluesofopticaltransmis-sion (normalized to the empty-channel measurements) wereobtained in essentially the same way as described, e.g., inRef. 19.A commercial split-coil magnet, embedded into an opticalcryostat, was utilized for measurements in magnetic fieldsup to 8 T. In these measurements, we used three differentgeometries:

B-Tphase diagram of CoCr2O4in magnetic fields up to 14 T

We have measured the magnetization and specific heat of multiferroic CoCr2O4 in magnetic fields up to 14 T. The high-field magnetization measurements indicate a new phase transition at T* = 5 - 6 K. The phase between T* and the lock-in transition at 15 K is characterized by magnetic irreversibility. At higher magnetic fields, the irreversibility increases. Specific-heat measurements confirm the transition at T*, and also show irreversible behavior. We construct a field-temperature phase diagram of CoCr2O4.

Magnetic and dielectric response of cobalt-chromium spinel CoCr2O4 in the terahertz frequency range

The nature of the phonon and magnon modes in the CoCr2O4 multiferroic with a cubic spinel structure has been studied using submillimeter spectroscopy and infrared Fourier spectroscopy. This paper reports on the first measurement of the evolution with temperature of the exchange optical magnon in the ferrimagnetic (TC = 94 K) and two low-symmetry (TS ≈ 26 K, Tlock-in = 14.5 K) phases of CoCr2O4 down to T = 5 K in zero magnetic field. It has been shown that the detected magnon is not a ferrimagnetic order parameter and originates, most probably, from spin precession in the cobalt sublattices. At the points of the magnetic phase transitions, the oscillator parameters of the two lowest-frequency phonon modes reveal an anomalous temperature behavior, thus evidencing the presence of significant interaction between the magnetic and phonon subsystems. The increase by 25% of the damping parameter of the phonon mode originating from vibrations of the CoO4 tetrahedra during the transition of CoCr2O4 to the multiferroic state (T < TS) suggests structural changes in the lattice involving loss of spatial central symmetry of the medium.

Methods of terahertz-subterahertz BWO spectroscopy of conducting materials

This paper considers present spectroscopic methods developed for measurement of dielectric response (conductivity and permittivity spectra) of condensed media in the terahertz-subterahertz spectral regions. The techniques based on the use of BWO spectrometers and designed for direct quantitative measurements (without invoking the Kramers-Kronig relations) in the terahertz-subterahertz frequency range (0.03–1.45 THz) of the conductivity σ(ν) and permittivity ɛ′(ν) spectra of conducting and absorbing materials are described. The techniques are based on measuring the amplitude and phase of the transmission coefficient of film samples on dielectric substrates and the reflection coefficient of a reference plane-parallel dielectric plate contacting the surface of the sample under study. The use of these techniques in measurement of the σ(ν)) and ɛ′(ν) spectra of conductors and superconductors is illustrated with examples.

Magnetic properties and phase transitions in hexagonal DyMnO3 single crystals

DyMnO3 single crystals of hexagonal modification were grown for the first time by zone melting, and their anisotropic magnetic properties were studied in detail. At T ∼ 7 K, a small uncompensated magnetic moment (∼1 μB per formula unit) is shown to occur along the hexagonal axis. At temperatures 7–45 K, a transition from the purely antiferromagnetic state to a state with uncompensated magnetic moment was revealed; the transition is induced by a magnetic field H parallel to the c axis. This transition seems to be due to a ferrimagnetic ordering of the moments of Dy cations located in nonequivalent crystallographic positions.

Observation of spontaneous spin reorientation in Nd1 − xDyxFe3(BO3)4 ferroborates with a competitive R-Fe exchange

The magnetic, magnetoelectric, and magnetoelastic properties of DyFe3(BO3)4 single crystals and the Nd0.75Dy0.25Fe3(BO3)4 substituted compound with the competitive Nd-Fe and Dy-Fe exchange interactions have been investigated in magnetic fields up to 210 kOe. It has been shown that the antiferromagnetic state in Nd0.75Dy0.25Fe3(BO3)4 below the Néel temperature is easy-plane and a spontaneous spin-reorientation transition to a uniaxial state occurs near 25 K. Anomalies are observed in various physical characteristics in a spin-flop transition induced by the magnetic field along the trigonal axis. The H-T phase diagrams are constructed; they are in good agreement with a simple model taking into account the anisotropy of the exchange splitting and g factors of the ground doublets of the Dy3+ and Nd3+ ions. The features of the magnetoelectric effect in various magnetic phases have been studied. Spontaneous electric polarization has been revealed in the region of the existence of an easy-plane antiferromagnetic state in the substituted compound. A qualitative theoretical justification of the possibility of the appearance of the spontaneous spin-reorientation transition in the Nd0.75Dy0.25Fe3(BO3)4 substituted compound is given.

Two-band Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer superconducting state of the iron pnictide compound Ba(Fe 0 . 9 Co 0 . 1 ) 2 As 2

The conductivity and permittivity optical spectra of iron-pnictide Ba(Fe0.9Co0.1)2As2 film (Tc=20 K) are analyzed. In the superconducting state, at all temperatures up to Tc the temperature dependences of the magnetic field penetration depth and of the superconducting condensate density are well described within the generalized two-band BCS model with intraband and interband pairing interactions considered. It is shown that the smaller superconducting energy gap 2{\Delta} = 3.7 meV develops in the electronic subsystem while the larger gap 2{\Delta}>= 7 meV opens in the hole subsystem. The normal state parameters (plasma frequencies and scattering rates) of electron and hole conduction bands are determined. At all temperatures the obtained data are consistent with the results of electronic photoemission experiments on Ba(Fe1-x Cox)2As2.

Phase T–x diagram of Sm1−xSrxMnO3 single crystals (0⩽x⩽0.8)

Abstract Magnetic and electrical properties of the Sm1−xSrxMnO3 (0⩽x⩽0.8) single crystals have been studied and T–x phase diagram has been revised. The compensation points of spontaneous magnetization were observed for the pure and low doped compositions. For 0.4⩽x⩽0.475 a ferromagnetic (F) ordering occurs as a first-order phase transition accompanied by magnetization and electrical resistivity jumps; magnetic field increases the temperature of this transition and spreads it resulting in an appearance of the critical point. Two different regions of the diagram have been distinguished for x⩾0.5. For the first region (0.5⩽x⩽0.575) a pure antiferromagnetic (AF) state without a spontaneous magnetization was observed below Neel temperature, while for the second one (0.6⩽x⩽0.675) an additional low temperature transition to a new phase possessing non-zero weak ferromagnetic moment was revealed.

Ge/Si(001) heterostructures with dense arrays of Ge quantum dots: morphology, defects, photo-emf spectra and terahertz conductivity

Issues of Ge hut cluster array formation and growth at low temperatures on the Ge/Si(001) wetting layer are discussed on the basis of explorations performed by high resolution STM and in-situ RHEED. Dynamics of the RHEED patterns in the process of Ge hut array formation is investigated at low and high temperatures of Ge deposition. Different dynamics of RHEED patterns during the deposition of Ge atoms in different growth modes is observed, which reflects the difference in adatom mobility and their ‘condensation’ fluxes from Ge 2D gas on the surface for different modes, which in turn control the nucleation rates and densities of Ge clusters. Data of HRTEM studies of multilayer Ge/Si heterostructures are presented with the focus on low-temperature formation of perfect films.Heteroepitaxial Si p–i–n-diodes with multilayer stacks of Ge/Si(001) quantum dot dense arrays built in intrinsic domains have been investigated and found to exhibit the photo-emf in a wide spectral range from 0.8 to 5 μ m. An effect of wide-band irradiation by infrared light on the photo-emf spectra has been observed. Photo-emf in different spectral ranges has been found to be differently affected by the wide-band irradiation. A significant increase in photo-emf is observed in the fundamental absorption range under the wide-band irradiation. The observed phenomena are explained in terms of positive and neutral charge states of the quantum dot layers and the Coulomb potential of the quantum dot ensemble. A new design of quantum dot infrared photodetectors is proposed.By using a coherent source spectrometer, first measurements of terahertz dynamical conductivity (absorptivity) spectra of Ge/Si(001) heterostructures were performed at frequencies ranged from 0.3 to 1.2 THz in the temperature interval from 300 to 5 K. The effective dynamical conductivity of the heterostructures with Ge quantum dots has been discovered to be significantly higher than that of the structure with the same amount of bulk germanium (not organized in an array of quantum dots). The excess conductivity is not observed in the structures with the Ge coverage less than 8 Å. When a Ge/Si(001) sample is cooled down the conductivity of the heterostructure decreases.

Origin of low-energy excitations in charge-ordered manganites

The low-energy excitations in the charge-ordered phase of polycrystalline La0.25Ca0.75MnO3 are explored by frequency-domain terahertz spectroscopy. In the frequency range from 4 cm−1 to 700 cm−1 (energies from 0.4 meV to 90 meV) and at temperatures down to 5 K, we do not detect any feature that can be associated with the collective response of the spatially modulated charge continuum. In the antiferromagnetically ordered phase, broad absorption bands appear in the conductivity and permittivity spectra around 30 cm−1 and 100 cm−1 which are assigned to former acoustic phonons optically activated due to a fourfold superstructure in the crystal lattice. Our results indicate that characteristic energies of collective excitations of the charge-ordered phase in La0.25Ca0.75MnO3, if any, lie below 1 meV. At our lowest frequencies of only few wave numbers a strong relaxation is observed above 100 K connected to the formation of the charge-ordered state.