Optical pump-terahertz probe analysis of long-lived d-electrons and relaxation to self-trapped exciton states in MnO

摘要

The dynamics of photoexcited electrons in various excited d-states was investigated in a transition metal oxide MnO by tunable optical pump-terahertz probe measurements. Photoexcited electrons in the lowest excited d-state showed the longest relaxation time among the three excited d-states that are accessible in MnO at room temperature. The relaxation rate in the lowest excited d-state showed a drastic increase below the Neel temperature T_N= 120K in MnO. We conclude that this increase is caused by the appearance of a decay channel related to magnetic-excitation-assisted photoluminescence from self-trapped exciton (STE) states. The opening of relaxation channels to the STE states in an antiferromagnetic phase suggests that it may be possible to control photocarrier lifetime by magnetic order in transition metal oxides.