Steric quenching of the switchable mirror effect Phys. Rev. B 75, 104109 (2007)

Messina, Troy C.; Miller, Casey W.; Markert, John T.

Steric quenching of the switchable mirror effect Phys. Rev. B 75, 104109 (2007)

Authors

Messina, Troy C.

Miller, Casey W.

Markert, John T.

Description

Scandium was substituted for yttrium to observe the effect of unit cell size on the optical metal-to-insulator (MIT) transition in the Y_(1-z)Sc_(z)H_(x) alloy system. The optical transmittance decreases significantly for z>0.10. Simultaneous electrical resistivity measurements confirm the transition from trihydride to dihydride behavior with increasing z. These observations imply a quenching of the MIT when the unit cell volume falls below a critical level that is consistent with the boundary between trihydride and non-trihydride forming rare-earth elements. A combinatoric model reveals this formation boundary corresponds to two or more Sc per unit cell.
Phys. Rev. B 75, 104109 (2007)