TY - JOUR
T1 - Spontaneous electric fields in solid carbon monoxide
AU - Lasne, Jerome
AU - Rosu-Finsen, Alexander
AU - Cassidy, Andrew
AU - McCoustra, Martin R S
AU - Field, David
N1 - Accepted 21 Sep 2015
We gratefully acknowledge support of the staff of the Aarhus 80
Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (ISA), the Danish Research
Council, European Community FP7-ITN Marie-Curie
5 Programme (LASSIE project, grant agreement #238258 ; AC,
JL), Heriot-Watt University for a James Watt scholarship (ARF)
and the experimental assistance of Ms. Holly Glenister.
PY - 2015/11/28
Y1 - 2015/11/28
N2 - Reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS) is shown to provide a means of observing the spontelectric phase of matter, the defining characteristic of which is the occurrence of a spontaneous and powerful static electric field within a film of material. The presence of such a field is demonstrated here through the study of longitudinal-transverse optical splitting in RAIR spectra in films of carbon monoxide, based upon the deposition temperature dependence of this splitting. Analysis of spectral data, in terms of the vibrational Stark effect, allows the measurement of the polarization of spontelectric films, showing for example that solid carbon monoxide at 20 K may maintain a spontelectric field of 3.78 × 107 V m-1, representing a polarization of 3.34 × 10-4 C m-2. We comment on the astrophysical implications of polarized carbon monoxide ices, on the surface of cosmic grains in star-forming regions.
AB - Reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS) is shown to provide a means of observing the spontelectric phase of matter, the defining characteristic of which is the occurrence of a spontaneous and powerful static electric field within a film of material. The presence of such a field is demonstrated here through the study of longitudinal-transverse optical splitting in RAIR spectra in films of carbon monoxide, based upon the deposition temperature dependence of this splitting. Analysis of spectral data, in terms of the vibrational Stark effect, allows the measurement of the polarization of spontelectric films, showing for example that solid carbon monoxide at 20 K may maintain a spontelectric field of 3.78 × 107 V m-1, representing a polarization of 3.34 × 10-4 C m-2. We comment on the astrophysical implications of polarized carbon monoxide ices, on the surface of cosmic grains in star-forming regions.
U2 - 10.1039/c5cp04536c
DO - 10.1039/c5cp04536c
M3 - Article
C2 - 26419192
SN - 1463-9076
VL - 17
SP - 30177
EP - 30187
JO - Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
JF - Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
IS - 44
ER -