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Charge Density Wave and Contact Effects in NbSe 3 Observed with Microwave Harmonic Mixing
Author(s) -
Mayr W.,
Philipp A.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
physica status solidi (b)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1521-3951
pISSN - 0370-1972
DOI - 10.1002/pssb.2221600222
Subject(s) - microwave , signal (programming language) , mixing (physics) , condensed matter physics , harmonic , optics , ohmic contact , microwave oven , chemistry , physics , acoustics , quantum mechanics , electrode , computer science , programming language
It is shown that the method of phase resolved harmonic mixing (PREHM) at microwave frequencies provides a powerful tool in the investigation of the non‐ohmic behaviour of NbSe 3 . The latter is due to the formation of two distinct charge density waves (CDW), one below T 1 = 144 K and the other below T 2 = 59 K. The observed PREHM signal is investigated in view of the contacts necessary for the detection of the PREHM signal possibly being a source of nonlinear behavior, too, and hence contributing to the signal. Several positions of the NbSe 3 crystal in the waveguide are chosen to expose either the contact region or the undisturbed part of the sample to the microwave radiation and in this way separating corresponding contributions to the PREHM signal. For comparison, harmonic mixing by a rectifying microwave diode is observed for the first time in order to investigate the principal physical behavior of a rectifying contact. The measurements show that in NbSe 3 there is a clear dominance of the CDW contribution over a negligible contact contribution at temperatures below T 1 = 144 K.