Residual polarization of negative muons implanted in C60 and K3C60

Negative muons captured by atoms with zero nuclear spin usually retain about 1/6 of their initial spin polarization P_0 after cascading down to their lowest Bohr orbital. This is particularly observed for μ^- implanted into graphite and diamond. However, μ^- implanted into a powder of the fullerene C₆₀ are found to show essentially zero residual polarization. A residual polarization of \sim P_0/6 is again seen in metallic K₃C₆₀. We speculate that these results are to be explained on the basis of hyperfine effects after completion of the muonic cascade. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Evidence for insulating behavior in the electric conduction of (NH(3))K(3)C(60) systems

Microwave study using the cavity perturbation technique revealed that the conductivity of the antiferromagnet (NH(3))K(3-x)Rb(x)C(60) at 200 K is already 3-4 orders of magnitude smaller than those of superconductors, K(3)C(60) and (NH(3))(x)NaRb(2)C(60), and that the antiferromagnetic compounds are insulators below 250 K without metal-insulator transitions. The striking difference in the magnitude of the conductivity between these materials strongly suggests that the Mott-Hubbard transition in the ammoniated alkali fullerides is driven by a reduction of lattice symmetry from face-centered-cubic to face-centered-orthorhombic, rather than by the magnetic ordering.     

The electron transport properties of photo- and electron-beam-irradiated C60 films

The electron transport properties of photo- and electron-beam-induced C₆₀ polymers, in which the former is a dumbbell-type two-dimensional (2D) polymer and the latter is a new polyhedral structured (peanut-shaped) carbon nanomaterial, have been investigated. Using a four-probe measurement, we found that the 2D photopolymer and the peanut-shaped polymer exhibit semiconducting and metallic characters in air at room temperature, respectively. In order to elucidate the origin of these electron transport properties, we have performed density-functional calculations of the dumbbell-shaped and peanut-shaped C₁₂₀ dimers that can be regarded as a basic unit of each polymer. It was found that the HOMO consisting of π-electrons orbital, which is related to the electron transport property, has a node on the [2+2] cyclo-bond for the dumbbell-shaped dimer, while that the HOMO has no node on the cross-linkage and spreads over the peanut-shaped dimer.     

Electronic properties of ortho-polymer A1C60 (A = K,Rb) and related phases

1 C₆₀. Its singular structural, magnetic and electrical properties greatly enhanced the study of the AC₆₀ phases (A = Rb, K and \chem{Cs}). We report our continuous wave (cw) ESR results on the structural phase transformations, phase instabilities and the related kinetics of K₁C₆₀. We quantitatively explain the origin of the difference between Rb₁C₆₀ and K₁C₆₀ phase diagrams. The stability of OP-Rb₁C₆₀ together with the narrowness of its homogenous cw-ESR linewidth in the temperature range allow to perform pulsed ESR experiments. Pulsed ESR experiments measure precisely both the electronic spin-spin () and spin-lattice () relaxation times. Above , the equality of and , which are the only contributions to the cw-ESR linewidth, constitutes a convincing evidence of the metallic nature of OP-Rb₁C₆₀. The drastic increase (decrease) of the linewidth () below \valunit{40}{K} is interpreted in terms of an \qut{electronic dimerization}. Received: 12 September 1996/Accepted: 14 November 1996