Optical transitions in single-wall boron nitride nanotubes.

Optical transitions in single-wall boron nitride nanotubes are investigated by means of optical absorption spectroscopy. Three absorption lines are observed. Two of them (at 4.45 and 5.5 eV) result from the quantification involved by the rolling up of the hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) sheet. The nature of these lines is discussed, and two interpretations are proposed. A comparison with single-wall carbon nanotubes leads one to interpret these lines as transitions between pairs of van Hove singularities in the one-dimensional density of states of boron nitride single-wall nanotubes. But the confinement energy due to the rolling up of the h-BN sheet cannot explain a gap width of the boron nitride nanotubes below the h-BN gap. The low energy line is then attributed to the existence of a Frenkel exciton with a binding energy in the 1 eV range.

Ultrafast carrier dynamics in single-wall carbon nanotubes.

Time-resolved carrier dynamics in single-wall carbon nanotubes is investigated by means of two-color pump-probe experiments. The recombination dynamics is monitored by probing the transient photobleaching observed on the interband transitions of the semiconducting tubes. This dynamics takes place on a 1 ps time scale which is 1 order of magnitude slower than in graphite. Transient photoinduced absorption is observed for nonresonant probing and is interpreted as a global redshift of the pi-plasmon resonance. We show that the opening of the band gap in semiconducting carbon nanotubes determines the nonlinear response dynamics over the whole visible and near-infrared spectrum.

Photomagnetic properties in a series of spin crossover compounds

The spin crossover (SC) compounds [Fe(PM-AzA)2(NCX)2] and [Fe(PM-FIA)2(NCX)2] (with PM-AzA = N-2'-pyridylmethylene-4-(phe-nylazo)aniline, PM-FIA = N-2'-pyridylmethylene-4-(2-amino)fluorene, and X = S, Se) have been prepared. The SC regimes have been deduced from variable-temperature magnetic susceptibility data. The enthalpy and entropy changes associated with the SC have been evaluated from DSC measurements. A cooperativity factor, C, has been defined, and its values for the different compounds have been deduced from the spin crossover curves. At 10 K, the light-induced excited spin state trapping (LIESST) effect has been observed within the cavity of the SQUID magnetometer. The critical temperatures Tc(LIESST) have been determined for [Fe(PM-AzA)2(NCS)2] and [Fe(PM-F1A)2(NCX)2], and the role of cooperativity has been analyzed. A linear correlation has been found between the Tc(LIESST) and C values. The kinetics of HS-->LS relaxation have been investigated; a thermally activated mechanism at elevated temperatures and a nearly temperature independent relaxation behavior at low temperatures have been found. Finally, the magnetic behavior recorded under light irradiation in the warming and cooling modes has revealed the occurrence of the light-induced thermal hysteresis (LITH) effect.