Dr. Lenart Dudy (U of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Lithium purple bronze: Between one-dimensional and quasi one-dimensional behavior
An interesting topic in condensed matter physics is the question if strictly one-dimensional behavior of the electronic structure can be realized in our three-dimensional world. In case of a network (or bundle) of one-dimensional wires, we know that the one-dimensionality is theoretically unstable against the exchange of electrons between neighboring wires - the “perpendicular hopping”. I will present results from photoemission spectroscopy on single crystals of Lithium purple bronze (Li0.9MoO17). I will show that the hopping parameter has to be extremely renormalized down in order to explain the experiment. Therefore, there might even be the rare possibility that the superconductivity of this material (at about 1.9K) evolves completely out of a one-dimensional behavior.