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# A Topological Criterion for Alice Strings

## I Introduction and Our Criterion

Among the defects created when gauged symmetries break down are Alice strings.oldAlice ; stringzm ; newAlice ; blp  Alice strings obstruct the global extension of unbroken symmetries, making them multivalued when parallel transported around the string. This algebraic obstruction has two prominent physical consequences. First, it produces nonconservation of associated charges, when Aharonov-Bohm scattered around the string. Second, it induces monopoles, as twisted loops of Alice string.

These Alice features arise due to gauge flux on the string’s core. The gauge flux generates the condensate winding, while acting on asymptotic particles through the Wilson line $`U(\phi )`$. This action fixes particles’ Aharonov-Bohm scattering around the string, to one changing both charge and monopole number. Loops of string, which leave charge and monopole number well-defined asymptotically, thus support deposited unlocalizable charge (“Cheshire charge”) and deposited monopole number. oldAlice ; stringzm  Alice loops carry this deposited monopole number by twisting, blp  as we probe further below.

Alice strings in condensed matter systems are global, not gauged, defects. They have no gauge flux to fix their Aharonov-Bohm scattering, and guarantee altered charge and monopole number upon string traversal. However, their Aharonov-Bohm scattering was considered in ABrefs ; global ; with global  showing that global Alice strings generically share all Alice behaviors. They alter both charge and monopole number on string traversal, with twisted loops supporting both Cheshire charge and deposited monopole number.

The criterion for Alice string formation was first stated algebraically, in terms of the string’s untraced Wilson loop $`U(2\pi )`$. When $`U(2\pi )`$ fails to commute with an unbroken symmetry $`h`$, the symmetry cannot be globally extended; when it fails to commute with unbroken generator $`T_h`$, the associated charge is nonconserved. Thus Alice strings arise when $`U(2\pi )`$ lies outside the center of the unbroken symmetry group $`H`$. As noted in stringzm , this is an inherently nontopological criterion, as topologically equivalent choices for $`U(2\pi )`$ can commute with different subgroups of $`H`$. Thus emergence of Alice behavior appeared a dynamical question. Steps toward topologizing this criterion came in blp . They noted that when all topologically equivalent choices for $`U(2\pi )`$ lie outside the center of $`H`$, Alice strings must form. Equivalently, topological Alice strings form when the fiber bundle of $`H`$ parallel transported around the string is nontrivializable. Both criteria, while accurate, seem difficult to apply.

We here establish an easily applied topological criterion which states when Alice strings must form. We take $`G`$ to be the simply connected cover of the initial symmetry — a connected Lie group — and $`HG`$ its unbroken subgroup. A topologically stable string has flux $`U(2\pi )`$ in a disconnected component of $`H`$, with topology determined by $`\pi _o(H)`$. Similarly, the topology of the monopole is given by $`\pi _1(H)`$, describing loops $`h(\alpha )`$ of different winding in $`H`$. By taking seriously the change in monopole number in circumnavigating the Alice string, we construct our criterion. Note that, in Aharonov-Bohm scattering around the string, the monopole $`h(\alpha )`$ is conjugated by the string’s Wilson loop $`U(2\pi )`$:

$$h(\alpha )\stackrel{~}{h}(\alpha )=U(2\pi )h(\alpha )U^1(2\pi ).$$

Monopole number changes if $`\stackrel{~}{h}(\alpha )`$ and $`h(\alpha )`$ are topologically distinct loops. We represent this transformation topologically, as $`\pi _o(H)`$ acting naturally on $`\pi _1(H)`$ by conjugation. Topological Alice strings form if that action is nontrivial: that is, if, for $`h_o`$ a representative element of $`\pi _o(H)`$ and $`h(\alpha )`$ a representative loop in $`\pi _1(H)`$,

$$\stackrel{~}{h}(\alpha )=h_oh(\alpha )h_o^1\sim ̸h(\alpha ).$$

A string with untraced Wilson loop $`U(2\pi )h_o`$ meeting this criterion is topologically guaranteed to change monopole number; we dub it a topologically Alice string.

This criterion captures physical Alice behavior, is easily applied, and is topological. Its result, for any chosen $`h_o`$ and $`h(\alpha )`$, remains invariant under deformations of either flux $`U(2\pi )=h_o`$ or monopole loop $`h(\alpha )`$. By construction, the strings are topologically Alice if monopoles change topologically in traversing them. Of course, monopoles $`h(\alpha )`$ change because of algebraic Alice behavior: loop $`h(\alpha )=e^{i\alpha T_h}`$ alters only if its generator $`T_h`$ alters; that is, if $`U(2\pi )`$ fails to commute with generator $`T_h`$. This algebraic noncommutation creates the standard Alice constellation of behaviors: multivalued symmetry, charge-violating Aharonov-Bohm scattering, Cheshire charge on Alice loops. It is captured by our criterion only when altering generators alters the topology of the loops they generate. This misses some Alice phenomena — particularly in models with poorly distinguished loops, when $`\pi _1(H)=0`$ (and all loops are trivial) or $`\pi _1(H)=Z_2`$ (and all nontrivial loops, including a loop and its inverse, are identified). We claim that Alice behavior in these models is not robust topologically; that is, continuous deformation of such strings removes their Alice behavior. In such cases, persistence of Alice behavior can arise only from dynamical arguments, favoring Alice strings over non-Alice strings of the same winding. Dynamically stabilized features remain interesting — for example, nontopological defects including embedded, semilocal, or electroweak strings. semew  However, we seek here for Alice behavior the more robust motivation of topological imperative.

Note that this topological imperative comes at a cost: to fulfill our topological criterion, of $`\pi _o(H)`$ acting nontrivially on $`\pi _1(H)`$, $`\pi _1(H)`$ itself must be nontrivial. That is, only in a theory with topological strings and monopoles — and more pointedly, monopoles topologically distinct from antimonopoles — do topologically Alice strings arise.

Our topological criterion for Alice strings ensures that twisted loops carry monopole charge, as we see by explicit construction below. We note that topological arguments only indicate that deposited monopole charge can be carried by twisted Alice loops. In many models, Alice strings interchange monopoles with antimonopoles, depositing monopole charge in units of 2. Whether fundamental monopoles, or only those with even charge, are deformable to twisted loops of Alice string is model-dependent. We see both possibilities arise in loopmon .

We present our results as follows. We first show that Alice strings failing our topological test have topologically unstable Alice features; that is, their Alice behavior can be deformed away. We then show, by construction, that twisted Alice strings carry monopole charge. We argue topologically, using our criterion to display a twisted Alice loop, carrying monopole number deposited in the monopole scattering $`h(\alpha )\stackrel{~}{h}(\alpha )`$. We then illustrate our criterion and Alice loop twisting to form monopoles, for key models: the Schwarz Alice string, coinciding with the Alice string of liquid crystals and of non-chiral Bose condensates oldAlice ; leonvol  and a nontopologically Alice string introduced in stringzm . Key points include, for the nontopological model, a focus on how Alice candidates may fail our criterion; and for the Schwarz string, analysis of the monopole charge carried by twisted Alice loops. In both Schwarz and 3He-A Alice models, Alice string scattering changes monopole number by 2, yet twisted Alice loops carry a single fundamental unit of monopole charge. Thus, for Alice strings in condensed matter, even the fundamental monopole can be, in fact, a twisted Alice loop. In contrast, model Alice loops discussed elsewhere support only even, not fundamental, monopole charge.loopmon  In this paper we elucidate our topological criterion and its generic consequences for twisted Alice loops; we elaborate consequences of the criterion for prominent condensed matter models in a companion paper loopmon .

## II  Failure means Topological Instability

Consider an Alice string with Wilson loop $`U(2\pi )=h_o`$. The Alice string fails our topological criterion if, for a nontrivial loop $`h(\alpha )H`$ describing a monopole, the parallel transported monopole is homotopic to the original; that is,

$$\stackrel{~}{h}(\alpha )=h_oh(\alpha )h_o^1h(\alpha ).$$
(1)
This occurs only if there exists some continuous map $`f(x)`$ deforming $`\stackrel{~}{h}(\alpha )`$ to $`h(\alpha )`$; that is

$$f(x):\stackrel{~}{h}(\alpha )\{\begin{array}{cc}\stackrel{~}{h}(\alpha )& \text{when }x=0\\ h(\alpha )& \text{when }x=1\end{array}.$$

Note that the map $`f(x)`$ relates nontrivial loops in $`H`$, with basepoint $`\alpha =0`$ fixed at the group identity. We write it as a continuously varying group element $`f(x)`$ acting on $`\stackrel{~}{h}(\alpha )`$ by conjugation,

$$f(x):\stackrel{~}{h}(\alpha )f(x)\stackrel{~}{h}(\alpha )f(x)^1.$$

Without loss of generality we take $`f(0)=11`$.

Now consider the continuous map $`h_{}^{}{}_{o}{}^{}(x)=f(x)h_o,`$ where $`f(x)`$ acts on $`h_o`$ by left multiplication. This interpolates between the Alice string’s Wilson loop $`h_o`$, and group element $`h_{}^{}{}_{o}{}^{}(1)`$ in the same disconnected component of H. $`h_{}^{}{}_{o}{}^{}(1)`$ thus defines a topologically equivalent string, with Wilson loop $`U(2\pi )=h_{}^{}{}_{o}{}^{}(1)`$. In circumnavigating this deformed string, the original monopole $`h(\alpha )`$ is unchanged: it goes to

$`\stackrel{~}{h^{}}(\alpha )`$ $`=`$ $`h_{}^{}{}_{o}{}^{}(1)h(\alpha )h_{}^{}{}_{o}{}^{1}(1)=f(1)h_oh(\alpha )h_o^1f(1)^1`$
$`=`$ $`f(1)\stackrel{~}{h}(\alpha )f(1)^1=h(\alpha ),`$
by construction of $`f(x)`$. Thus the monopole loop $`h(\alpha )`$ remains identical on circumnavigating the string. Choosing as our nontrivial loop $`h(\alpha )=e^{i\alpha T_h}`$, the loop (at each value of $`\alpha `$) remains unchanged only if the generator $`T_h`$ remains unchanged. Thus by continuously deforming our Alice string’s flux from $`h_o`$ to $`h_{}^{}{}_{o}{}^{}(1)`$, we have obtained a string flux $`U(2\pi )=h_{}^{}{}_{o}{}^{}(1)`$ which commutes with all generators; that is, we have removed all Alice behavior of the string. This renders Alice behavior for strings failing our criterion topologically unstable; it can be deformed away, and stabilized only in dynamical, model-dependent ways.

## III Twisted Alice loops are monopoles

Monopoles lie on the vacuum manifold at spatial infinity, with topology given by $`\pi _2(G/H)`$. We here show that a twisted topologically Alice loop is necessarily a topological monopole; that is, an infinite sphere enclosing it has nontrivial $`\pi _2(G/H)`$.

First, we construct a sensible twisted Alice loop.

Recall that our Alice string has a condensate $`\varphi `$ which winds asymptotically over the vacuum manifold $`G/H`$ according to

$$\varphi (\phi )=U(\phi )\varphi _o,$$

where the Wilson line $`U(\phi )`$ acts on the vev $`\varphi _o`$ according to its group representation. $`U(\phi )`$ varies continuously over $`G`$ for $`0<\phi <2\pi `$, and connects the identity at $`\phi =0`$ to a distinct Wilson loop $`U(2\pi )`$ in $`H`$. The string is topological when $`U(2\pi )=h_o`$ lies in a disconnected component of $`H`$, with nontrivial $`\pi _o(H)`$, and is topologically Alice when it meets our criterion (1).

Now twist the Alice string: continuously rotate its Wilson line within $`G`$ by the angle-dependent $`H`$-group rotation $`h^1(\alpha )`$:

$$U(\phi ,\alpha )=h^1(\alpha )U(\phi )h(\alpha ),$$

as shown in Figure 1a. This, of course, rotates our condensate among the degenerate vacua on $`G/H`$:

$$\varphi (\phi ,\alpha )=U(\phi ,\alpha )\varphi _o.$$

Under what conditions may we identify string ends at $`\alpha =0`$ and $`\alpha =2\pi `$ to form a string loop, as pictured in Figure 1b? First, we require the string configurations to match at the junction. This is assured if $`h(2\pi )=h(0)`$, that is, if $`h(\alpha )`$ is a loop. Second, the twisted condensate $`\varphi (\phi ,\alpha )`$ must be single-valued. Note that the Wilson line $`U(\phi ,\alpha )`$ itself need not be single-valued: indeed, for a monopole configuration, $`U(\phi ,\alpha )`$ interpolates from the identity at $`\phi =0`$ to a nontrivial loop in $`H`$ at $`\phi =2\pi `$.

First we check singlevaluedness of $`\varphi (\phi ,\alpha )`$ at the loop’s origin. Here $`\phi =0`$ (or $`2\pi `$) while $`\alpha `$ is indeterminate. Note that $`U(0,\alpha )`$ is the identity, manifestly single-valued. At $`\phi =2\pi ,`$

$$U(2\pi ,\alpha )=h^1(\alpha )U(2\pi )h(\alpha ).$$

This generally does vary with $`\alpha `$; however, it is a loop in $`H`$, with basepoint $`U(2\pi )=h_oH`$. It thus leaves the condensate invariant, assuming the single value $`\varphi _o`$ at loop origin.

Elsewhere, we need only show first, that $`\varphi (\phi ,\alpha +2\pi )=\varphi (\phi ,\alpha )`$; and second, that $`\varphi (\phi +2\pi ,\alpha )=\varphi (\phi ,\alpha )`$. The first is trivial: since $`h(\alpha )`$ is a loop, $`h(\alpha )=h(\alpha +2\pi )`$ and both $`U(\phi ,\alpha )`$ and $`\varphi (\phi ,\alpha )`$ are single-valued in $`\alpha `$.

To show singlevaluedness in $`\phi `$, let us, without loss of generality, diagonalize our string Wilson line $`U(\phi )`$, taking it to be generated by a fixed generator so that $`U(\phi +2\pi )=U(\phi )U(2\pi ).`$ Then our twisted Wilson line obeys

$$U(\phi +2\pi ,\alpha )=h^1(\alpha )U(\phi )U(2\pi )h(\alpha )=U(\phi ,\alpha )U(2\pi ,\alpha ).$$

As noted above, $`U(2\pi ,\alpha )`$ is a loop in $`H`$, leaving $`\varphi _o`$ invariant. Thus

$$\varphi (\phi ,\alpha +2\pi )=\varphi (\phi ,\alpha )=U(\phi ,\alpha )\varphi _o$$

and our twisted Alice loop is fully single-valued.

By the exact sequence for $`\pi _2(G/H)`$, our twisted Alice loop is a monopole when $`U(\phi ,\alpha )`$ interpolates between an element of $`H`$ at $`\phi =0`$ and a nontrivial loop in $`H`$ at $`\phi =2\pi `$. For convenience, right multiply $`U(\phi ,\alpha )`$ by $`h_o^1`$:

$$U(\phi ,\alpha )=h^1(\alpha )U(\phi )h(\alpha )h_o^1.$$
(2)
Since $`h_o^1H`$, this right multiplication does not change the physical condensate $`\varphi (\phi ,\alpha )`$. However, it makes the topology of $`U(\phi ,\alpha )`$ clear, for

$$U(\phi ,\alpha )=\{\begin{array}{cc}h_o^1\hfill & \text{for}\phi =0\hfill \\ h^1(\alpha )\stackrel{~}{h}(\alpha )\hfill & \text{for}\phi =2\pi \hfill \end{array}.$$

By definition, if the string is topologically Alice, $`\stackrel{~}{h}(\alpha )\sim ̸h(\alpha )`$ so that $`h^1(\alpha )\stackrel{~}{h}(\alpha )`$ is a nontrivial loop in $`H`$, and the twisted Alice loop carries nontrivial monopole charge. If the string is not topologically Alice, the loop $`h^1(\alpha )\stackrel{~}{h}(\alpha )`$ is trivial in $`H`$ and the twisted Alice loop carries no monopole charge.

Thus twisted Alice loops carry monopole charge if and only if they obey our topological Alice criterion. We note that the monopole charge displayed , with winding $`h^1(\alpha )\stackrel{~}{h}(\alpha )`$, is exactly that deposited on an initially untwisted Alice loop, when a monopole of winding $`h^1(\alpha )`$ circumnavigates the string and emerges with winding $`\stackrel{~}{h}^1(\alpha )`$. blp  (The inverse twisted Alice loop, generated by $`U^1(\phi ,\alpha )`$, instead carries monopole charge $`h(\alpha )\stackrel{~}{h}^1(\alpha )`$, deposited in the monopole circumnavigation $`h(\alpha )\stackrel{~}{h}(\alpha )`$.)

We note that our final map $`U(2\pi ,\alpha )`$ for the twisted Alice loop coincides with the flux loop (4.1) and paths $`C_\alpha ^{}`$ defined in blp . They show that this map coincides with the Lubkin classification of monopole charge for the twisted Alice loop. This reinforces our classification, as identifying twisted topologically Alice loops with physical gauged magnetic monopoles.

## IV The Schwarz, or Nematic, Alice String

The simplest Alice string is that of Schwarz, oldAlice  whose symmetry structure coincides with Alice strings in nematic liquid crystals and non-chiral Bose condensates. leonvol  Here $`G`$ is $`SO(3)`$, with Higgs $`\varphi `$ transforming in the adjoint. $`\varphi `$ develops the vev $`\varphi =\mathrm{diag}(1,1,2),`$ breaking $`SO(3)`$ to the residual symmetry $`H=O(2)`$, containing z-rotations $`R_z(\alpha )`$ and the discrete symmetry element $`h_o=R_x(\pi )=\mathrm{diag}(1,1,1).`$ Here $`\pi _o(H)=Z_2`$ and $`\pi _1(H)=Z`$ so we have topological strings and monopoles. The Alice string has Wilson line $`U(\phi )=R_x(\phi /2)`$ with $`U(2\pi )=h_o`$. $`U(2\pi )`$ fails to commute with unbroken symmetry generator $`T_z`$; in fact, on parallel transport around the string,

$$T_zU(2\pi )T_zU^1(2\pi )=T_z.$$
(3)
This Schwarz Alice string meets our topological criterion, of changing topological monopole charge on circumnavigation. By the exact sequence for $`\pi _2(G/H)`$, topological monopoles are associated with nontrivial loops in $`O(2)`$ which can be unwound in $`SO(3)`$. Since only even winding loops in $`O(2)`$ can be unwound in $`SO(3)`$, the fundamental monopole in this canonical Alice model has a loop in $`O(2)`$ of winding 2.

To apply our topological criterion, we represent the string by $`h_o`$, a nontrivial element of $`\pi _o(H)`$, and the fundamental monopole by $`h(\alpha )=R_z(2\alpha )`$, a winding 2 element of $`\pi _1(H)`$. This gives

$$\stackrel{~}{h}(\alpha )=h_oh(\alpha )h_o^1=h^1(\alpha ),$$

from equation (3). Note that $`h^1(\alpha )`$ has $`O(2)`$ winding -2, topologically distinct from $`h(\alpha )`$ of $`O(2)`$ winding 2. Thus $`\stackrel{~}{h}(\alpha )\sim ̸h(\alpha )`$ and our topological criterion is met.

We now construct a monopole as a twisted Alice loop. From Eq. (2), the twisted Wilson line

$$U(\phi ,\alpha )=h^1(\alpha /2)U(\phi )h(\alpha /2)h_o^1$$

gives an Alice loop with single-valued condensate. (We take $`h(\alpha /2)`$ because $`h`$ need only be single-valued in $`\alpha `$, and $`h(\alpha /2)`$, the winding 1 loop in $`O(2)`$, first achieves this.) $`U(\phi ,\alpha )`$ interpolates between $`h_o^1`$ at $`\phi =0`$ and $`h^1(\alpha )`$ at $`\phi =2\pi `$. It is thus the fundamental antimonopole in the model, winding $`2`$ in $`O(2)`$. The inverse twisted Alice loop, with Wilson line $`U^1(\phi ,\alpha )`$, creates the fundamental monopole.

Similarly, twisted Alice loops in 3He-A and amorphous chiral superconductors support fundamental monopole charge, as again only even $`U(1)`$ loops unwind inside $`SO(3)`$.loopmon  Embedding $`H=O(2)`$ in a different $`G`$, however, can result in Alice loops unable to support fundamental monopole charge. loopmon

## V A Nontopologically Alice string

Consider the nontopologically Alice string introduced in stringzm : a Higgs $`\varphi `$, transforming in the adjoint under $`G=SO(6)`$, acquires the vev $`\varphi =\mathrm{diag}(1^3,1^3)`$. This condensate leaves unbroken an $`SO(3)\times SO(3)`$ subgroup of $`SO(6)`$ and a discrete $`Z_2`$ transformation $`h_1=11_6`$, so $`H=SO(3)\times SO(3)\times Z_2`$. Here $`\pi _o(H)=Z_2`$ and $`\pi _1(H)=Z_2\times Z_2`$, so topological strings and monopoles form, with monopoles and antimonopoles identified. Alice characterististics of the string depend on $`U(2\pi )`$. For $`U(2\pi )=h_1`$, all unbroken generators $`T_{ij}`$ are single-valued under parallel transport around the string, and the string is not Alice. However, for the topologically equivalent choice $`U(2\pi )=\mathrm{diag}(1^2,(1)^4)=R_{12}(\pi )`$, the string is Alice, making generators $`T_{13}`$ and $`T_{23}`$ of rotations in the $`13`$\- and $`23`$-planes double-valued. Since this Alice behavior is removable by deforming to the topologically equivalent string with $`U(2\pi )=h_1`$, it must be nontopological. However, it is instructive to see how the two strings fail our topological criterion. Taking as our nontrivial monopole loop $`h(\alpha )=R_{13}(\alpha )`$, we obtain, for $`h_o=h_1`$, $`\stackrel{~}{h}(\alpha )=h_oh(\alpha )h_o^1=h(\alpha ).`$ That is, our topological criterion fails, as the monopole remains unchanged in circumnavigating the Alice string. Instead, for $`h_o=R_{12}(\pi ),`$ $`\stackrel{~}{h}(\alpha )=h_oh(\alpha )h_o^1=h^1(\alpha ),`$ since $`T_{13}T_{13}`$. Here a monopole transforms into an antimonopole on traversing the string. However, that transformation is nontopological, as monopoles and antimonopoles are topologically equivalent. So, despite algebraic Alice behavior, this string is not topologically Alice. Loops $`h(\alpha )`$ alter on string traversals, but in a topologically trivial way.

## VI Conclusions

We have established a topological criterion for strings to display Alice behavior. This criterion, that $`\pi _o(H)`$ acts nontrivially on $`\pi _1(H)`$, depends only on the residual symmetry group $`H`$. Alice strings must form in models obeying this criterion, while Alice behavior can be deformed away for strings failing the criterion. Particularly, the criterion requires that topological monopoles always accompany Alice strings; and furthermore, that Alice strings alter the topological charge of monopoles that circumnavigate them. We construct monopoles as twisted loops of Alice string, and show that such twisted loops can always support deposited monopole charge. Whether twisted Alice loops can support fundamental monopole charge depends on the symmetry-breaking pattern more closely, as we discuss in loopmon . For the Schwarz Alice string, we construct a twisted Alice loop that supports fundamental monopole charge.

###### Acknowledgements.

Early stages of this work were supported by NSF grant PHY-9631182 and by the University Research Committee of Emory University. KB thanks the KITP (under NSF grant PHY99-07949) for hospitality during the writing of this paper.
$$\begin{array}{c}\text{}\text{}\\ \text{FIG. 1: a) A twisted Alice string. b) Identifying twisted Alice string ends to form a twisted Alice loop.}\end{array}$$


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# Thermal conductivity of doped 𝐋𝐚_𝟐𝐂𝐮𝐎_𝟒 as an example for heat transport by optical phonons in complex materials

11institutetext: Département de Physique de la Matière Condensée, Université de Genève, CH-1211 Genève, Switzerland 22institutetext: 2. Physikalisches Institut, RWTH-Aachen, D-52056 Aachen, Germany 33institutetext: Leibniz-Institute for Solide State and Materials Research, IFW-Dresden, 01171 Dresden, Germany (Received: date / Revised version: date)

## Abstract

We investigate the phonon thermal conductivity $`\kappa _{\mathrm{ph}}`$ of doped $`\mathrm{La}_2\mathrm{CuO}_4`$ based on out-of-plane thermal conductivity measurements. When room temperature is approached the temperature dependence of $`\kappa _{\mathrm{ph}}`$ strongly deviates from the $`T^1`$-decrease which is usually expected for heat transport by acoustic phonons. Instead, $`\kappa _{\mathrm{ph}}`$ decreases much weaker or even increases with rising temperature. Simple arguments suggest that such unusual temperature dependencies of $`\kappa _{\mathrm{ph}}`$ are caused by heat transport via dispersive optical phonons.

The thermal conductivity $`\kappa `$ is an interesting tool in order to probe dissipation and scattering of any propagating excitation in a solid. A recent example is $`\kappa `$ of complex materials with low-dimensional spin structures where magnetic excitations provide an unusual transport channel of heat Sologubenko00 ; Hess01 ; Hess02 ; Hess03b ; Hess03 . Such magnetic heat conduction can in general only be measured in parallel with the phononic heat transport of the underlying crystal lattice. A thorough understanding of the phonon thermal conductivity $`\kappa _{\mathrm{ph}}`$ is therefore essential to identify and separate a magnetic contribution $`\kappa _{\mathrm{mag}}`$.

In early experiments on magnetic materials clear deviations from a low-temperature scaling as $`T^3`$, which as $`T0`$ is expected for $`\kappa _{\mathrm{ph}}`$, were assessed as one important indication of $`\kappa _{\mathrm{mag}}`$ Luethi62 ; Douglass63 ; Coenen77 . Recently, experiments have been performed on materials where magnetic coupling and velocities of magnetic excitations are several orders of magnitude larger than in these early studies. Significant $`\kappa _{\mathrm{mag}}`$ is in these cases present at much higher temperatures where $`\kappa _{\mathrm{ph}}`$ is expected to follow a $`T^1`$ behavior. Prominent examples are the spin-ladder system $`(\mathrm{Sr},\mathrm{Ca},\mathrm{La})_{14}\mathrm{Cu}_{24}\mathrm{O}_{41}`$ and the two-dimensional antiferromagnetic $`\mathrm{La}_2\mathrm{CuO}_4`$, where pronounced peaks are observed in $`\kappa `$ at high $`T`$ Sologubenko00 ; Hess01 ; Hess02 ; Hess03b ; Hess03 . These high-$`T`$ anomalies reflect the dimensionality of the underlying magnetic structure, i.e., they are only observed when $`\kappa `$ is measured along the direction of ladders or, in the case of $`\mathrm{La}_2\mathrm{CuO}_4`$, parallel to the magnetic planes. However, it is not a priori clear that such anomalies result from magnetic heat transport. Just as well, it is possible that dispersive optical modes provide a thermal transport channel which could generate an unusual high-$`T`$ behavior of $`\kappa _{\mathrm{ph}}`$. Even the observed anisotropies could be explained in such a scenario, since low-dimensional magnetic structures often originate from lattice sub-structures with a similar low dimensionality. It is therefore essential to carefully investigate the origin of high $`T`$ anomalies. A firm proof that indeed magnetic heat conduction is present, is for example obtained if the analysis of the additional contributions yields characteristic magnetic properties like the spin gap of the ladders or magnetic defect distances Sologubenko00 ; Hess01 ; Hess03 .

The actual relevance of heat conduction by optical phonons has, however, never been studied systematically. It is the purpose of this paper to initiate future work in this field by pointing out that optical phonons provide a substantial transport mechanism of heat in doped $`\mathrm{La}_2\mathrm{CuO}_4`$. Our estimation for the heat conductivity by optical phonons $`\kappa _{\mathrm{opt}}`$ is based on realistic values for the phonon energies and velocities in this material. We find that at room temperature $`\kappa _{\mathrm{opt}}`$ can amount to about 40% of the total phonon thermal conductivity $`\kappa _{\mathrm{ph}}`$.

The experimental data which give reason for our considerations is the out-of-plane thermal conductivity $`\kappa _c`$ of $`\mathrm{La}_{1.8\mathrm{x}}\mathrm{Eu}_{0.2}\mathrm{Sr}_\mathrm{x}\mathrm{CuO}_4`$-single crystals with $`x=0`$, 0.08, 0.15 and 0.2. Fig. 1 displays $`\kappa _c`$ as a function of $`T`$. Prior to discussing the high-$`T`$ behavior of $`\kappa _c`$ in more detail, we briefly summarize the most important facets of the doping- and temperature dependence of $`\kappa _c`$ which have been elaborately discussed in Ref. Hess03a . Details of the experiment are also described there. Unlike the in-plane-thermal conductivity $`\kappa _{ab}`$ of doped $`\mathrm{La}_2\mathrm{CuO}_4`$ which, depending on doping, consists of phononic, magnetic and electronic contributions, $`\kappa _c`$ is purely phononic for all Sr-contents. This is concluded from the very low out-of-plane electrical conductivity and the negligible magnetic coupling along the $`c`$-axis Hess03 ; Hess03a ; Thio88 ; Nakamura91 . A usual low-$`T`$ phonon peak is present in $`\kappa _c`$ for all doping levels. The gradual suppression of the peak upon Sr-doping is straightforwardly understood in terms of scattering by impurities which are induced by the Sr-ions. For $`x0.15`$ a step-like decrease is present at $`T_{LT}130`$ K which may be seen more clearly in Fig. 2, where the high-$`T`$ behavior of $`\kappa _c`$ is shown separately for each compound. At $`T_{LT}`$ a structural phase transition occurs between the so-called LTO- (Low-Temperature-Orthorhombic, $`TT_{LT}`$) and LTT-phases (Low-Temperature-Tetragonal, $`TT_{LT}`$). Soft tilting modes of the $`\mathrm{CuO}_6`$-octahedra enhance the scattering of acoustic phonons in the LTO-phase, which generates the step at $`T_{LT}`$.

As revealed from Fig. 2, the $`T`$-dependence of $`\kappa _c`$ in the LTO-phase apparently evolves from ($`x=0`$, 0.08) an almost constant behavior with a slight decrease at high $`T`$ into a clear increase with increasing $`T`$ ($`x=0.15`$, 0.2). This obviously conflicts with the expected decrease of $`\kappa _{\mathrm{ph}}`$ (ideally following $`T^1`$). Strong deviations from the expected behavior could in principle arise from structural peculiarities of the LTO-phase. This can, however, be ruled out since in the case of $`x=0.2`$ the LTT-, the LTO- and in addition the so-called HTT-structures (High-Temperature-Tetragonal) are successively passed through with rising $`T`$ without any influence on the increase of $`\kappa _c`$. Furthermore, $`\kappa _{\mathrm{ph}}`$ of the LTO-phase should never be equal to and never exceed $`\kappa _{\mathrm{ph}}`$ of the LTT-phase, where additional phonon-scattering by the aforementioned soft tilting modes does not exist. Yet this is the case for $`x=0.15`$ and $`x=0.2`$. For $`x=0`$ and $`x=0.08`$, a similar situation is present concerning a hypothetical $`\kappa _{\mathrm{ph}}`$ of the LTT-phase which is extrapolated into the LTO-phase (solid lines in Fig. 2). These extrapolations have been obtained by fitting $`\kappa _{\mathrm{ph}}`$ of the LTT-phase with $`\kappa =a/T+b`$, $`b>0`$ and extrapolating this function to high $`T`$. In all cases these extrapolations are considerably smaller than the measured $`\kappa _c`$ just slightly above $`T_{LT}`$.111Note that an intersection between the measured and extrapolated curves also arises for extrapolation functions which decrease much weaker. We therefore conclude that in addition to the usual heat conductivity by the acoustic phonons, $`\kappa _{\mathrm{acst}}`$, a further transport channel for heat is present. Electronic and magnetic contribution to $`\kappa `$ can be excluded as already mentioned above. The additional heat transport must therefore arise due to optical phonons. This is remarkable since in practice optical phonons are neglected in the analysis of phonon heat transport.

It is commonly argued that optical phonons have dispersion curves at high energy with almost no slope. In that case the number of excited phonons is small and these phonons do not propagate. Their ability to transport heat is therefore negligibly small. The situation is different in the case of doped $`\mathrm{La}_2\mathrm{CuO}_4`$ where it is well established that numerous optical phonons have a high velocity Pintschovius90 ; Pintschovius91 . Considerable transport of heat by such optical phonons should therefore be possible if their energy is not too high to be excited at temperatures relevant here, i.e. at $`T300`$ K. In the following we therefore investigate this possibility based on a simple kinetic model for the phononic heat transport.

Following standard linearized Boltzmann-theory the thermal conductivity of a single phonon branch (labelled by $`i`$) in a crystal with cubic symmetry is given by Callaway

$$\varkappa ^i=\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{(2\pi )^3}v_𝐤^il_𝐤^iϵ_𝐤^i\frac{d}{dT}n_𝐤^i𝑑𝐤,$$
(1)
where $`v_𝐤^i`$, $`l_𝐤^i`$, $`ϵ_𝐤^i`$ and $`n_𝐤^i`$ denote velocity, mean free path, energy and Bose function of a phonon. Frequently, a Debye-approximation with momentum independent mean free path is used, i.e. $`v_𝐤^iv^i`$ and $`l_𝐤^il^i`$. In this case Eq. 1 simplifies to

$$\varkappa ^i=\frac{1}{3}c_V^iv^il^i$$
(2)
with the specific heat $`c_V^i`$ of that phonon branch. The usual acoustic phonon thermal conductivity $`\kappa _{\mathrm{acst}}`$ is then obtained by summing up the contributions of the three acoustic phonon branches. Often the different branches of acoustic phonons are unified by employing an avergaged phonon velocity and the Debye specific heat of phonons. Even though such an estimate for $`\kappa _{\mathrm{acst}}`$ is very crude, yet it is helpful to understand the $`T`$ dependence of $`\kappa _{\mathrm{acst}}`$ in the low- and high-$`T`$ limits: At low $`T`$ the dominating scattering process is temperature independent scattering on crystal boundaries which leads to $`\kappa _{\mathrm{acst}}c_VT^3`$. For $`T\mathrm{}`$ the specific heat becomes constant while the phonon mean free path is inversely proportional to the number phonons that generate umklapp processes, i.e., $`\kappa _{\mathrm{acst}}T^1`$. These two limiting $`T`$-dependencies lead to the characteristic phonon-peak of $`\kappa _{\mathrm{acst}}`$ at low-$`T`$ which arises when umklapp scattering becomes important and over-compensates the increasing number of phonons.

In order to obtain a description which takes optical phonon branches into account we take a summation over all relevant phonon branches (acoustic and optic), i.e.,

$$\kappa =\underset{i}{}\varkappa ^i=\frac{1}{3}\underset{i}{}c_V^iv^il^i,$$
(3)
where we extract the velocities $`v^i`$ from linear approximations to the experimental ($`0,0,q`$)-phonon dispersion relations as measured by inelastic neutron diffraction Pintschovius91 . The specific heat $`c_V^i`$ of each branch is calculated with the usual Debye model where an energy gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{opt}}^i`$ has to be considered for the optical branches. Hence we have

$$c_V^i=3N_Ak_B\left(\frac{T}{\mathrm{\Theta }_D^i}\right)^3I^i,$$
(4)
where $`N_A`$ and $`k_B`$ are Avogadro’s and Boltzmann’s constants, $`\mathrm{\Theta }_D^i=v^i\mathrm{}k_B^1(6\pi ^2n)^{1/3}`$ with $`n`$ as the density of unit cells and

$$I^i=_0^{\frac{\mathrm{\Theta }_D^i}{T}}\left(x+\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{opt}}^i}{T}\right)^2\frac{x^2\mathrm{exp}(x+\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{opt}}^i}{T})}{[\mathrm{exp}(x+\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{opt}}^i}{T})1]^2}𝑑x.$$
(5)
The different $`v^i`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{opt}}^i`$ and $`\mathrm{\Theta }_D^i`$ of the phonon branches which we used for our analysis are summarized in Table 1.

It is evident from the table that the $`v^i`$ of the optical and acoustic branches are of comparable magnitude and therefore a significant propagation of the optical modes is present indeed. The degree of excitation of the optical modes is reflected by the specific heat, which is shown in Fig. 3 (a), for the different phonon branches. Remarkably, at $`T=300`$ K the $`c_V^i`$ of the optical branches labelled A and B already amount to about 80% of the Dulong-Petit value, i.e., the major part of these optical modes is already populated at this $`T`$.222Since only a single phonon branch is considered, the Dulong-Petit value is $`24.9/3\mathrm{Jm}^1\mathrm{K}^1=8.3\mathrm{Jm}^1\mathrm{K}^1`$. $`c_V^i`$ of the strongly dispersing branch C apparently evolves at much higher $`T`$.

In our kinetic model the products $`c_V^iv^i`$, which measure the excitation of propagating phonons, are more relevant for the heat transport. In Fig. 3 (b) the $`T`$-dependence of the sum $`𝒮_{\mathrm{total}}=_ic_V^iv^i`$ of all contributions is shown as a solid line while the different contributions $`𝒮_{\mathrm{acst}}=_i^{\mathrm{acst}}c_V^iv^i`$ and $`𝒮_{\mathrm{opt}}=_i^{\mathrm{opt}}c_V^iv^i`$ of acoustic and optical phonons are displayed as broken lines. Apparently, propagating optical phonons become significantly excited at $`T70`$ K and already contribute 40% of $`𝒮_{\mathrm{total}}`$ at 300 K.

It is now very interesting to use this information and analyze experimental phononic thermal conductivities in terms of acoustic and optic contributions, $`\kappa _{\mathrm{acst}}`$ and $`\kappa _{\mathrm{opt}}`$. If we follow our model, an accurate separation of $`\kappa _{\mathrm{acst}}`$ and $`\kappa _{\mathrm{opt}}`$ is now possible with the separate phonon mean free paths $`l^i`$ of each branch. These are, however, not known. As a first approximation we therefore assume an integrative mean free path $`l^il_{\mathrm{ph}}`$. The total phonon thermal conductivity then separates into acoustic and optic contributions in the same ratio as $`𝒮_{\mathrm{acst}}`$ and $`𝒮_{\mathrm{opt}}`$. As an example, we have calculated $`\kappa _{\mathrm{acst}}`$ and $`\kappa _{\mathrm{opt}}`$ of $`\mathrm{La}_{1.8}\mathrm{Eu}_{0.2}\mathrm{CuO}_4`$ as a function of $`T`$ as shown in Fig. 3 (c).333As a first approximation we assume for the calculation of $`\kappa _{\mathrm{acst}}`$ and $`\kappa _{\mathrm{opt}}`$ that the structural phase transition at $`T_{LT}130`$K does not affect the lattice dynamics. Apart from the remarkable high $`\kappa _{\mathrm{opt}}`$, the $`T`$-dependence of $`\kappa _{\mathrm{acst}}`$ at high $`T`$ is now indeed in accordance with the expected decrease with increasing $`T`$. In fact, at $`T200`$ K, $`\kappa _{\mathrm{acst}}`$ even follows a $`T^1`$-dependence as is illustrated in Fig. 3 (c) by the solid line which represents a fit $`\kappa _{\mathrm{acst}}=a/T+b`$, $`b>0`$.

The inset of Fig. 3 depicts the $`T`$-dependence of $`l_{\mathrm{ph}}`$ of $`\mathrm{La}_{1.8}\mathrm{Eu}_{0.2}\mathrm{CuO}_4`$ which we have calculated from our experimental data and $`𝒮_{\mathrm{total}}`$. Its strong decrease has to be attributed to the growing importance of umklapp scattering processes with increasing $`T`$. Note that $`l_{\mathrm{ph}}15`$ Å at $`T350`$ K. This value is slightly larger than the lattice constant $`c=13.2`$ Å which defines the lower limit for $`l_{\mathrm{ph}}`$. At high $`T`$, our estimation of $`\kappa _{\mathrm{opt}}`$ is therefore close to a lower limit of $`\kappa _{\mathrm{opt}}`$, i.e., optical contributions could even be more important than it is revealed in our study.

Several simplifications in our approach should be mentioned besides the integrative $`l_{\mathrm{ph}}`$. First, the linear approximation of the dispersion curves neglects curvatures of the real dispersion relations which are present in some parts of the Brillouin-zone. Second, even though in the real material comparable dispersing optical phonon modes are present along all crystal directions, it is certainly not perfectly isotropic as implied by our approach. Third and finally, apart from the three acoustic branches we only take three optical branches into account. It is not clear whether the first two simplifications influence our estimation towards a smaller or larger result for $`\kappa _{\mathrm{opt}}`$. Yet it is unlikely that the order of magnitude of $`\kappa _{\mathrm{opt}}`$ is significantly smaller. Taking more optical branches into account, as required for a more realistic description, will certainly shift $`\kappa _{\mathrm{opt}}`$ towards higher values.

Our data suggest a clear doping dependence of the ratio of $`\kappa _{\mathrm{opt}}`$ and $`\kappa _{\mathrm{acst}}`$ since the high-$`T`$ increase of $`\kappa _c`$ becomes more and more apparent with increasing Sr-content (cf. Fig. 2). We note in this context that for some of the dispersive optical phonon branches the optical gaps and the slopes of the dispersion curves change upon Sr-doping. Therefore, a growing importance of $`\kappa _{\mathrm{opt}}`$ with increasing Sr-content could, for example, be related to decreasing optical gaps and increasing slopes of the dispersion curves Pintschovius90 ; Pintschovius91 . However, in order to verify such a detailed interpretation, a more accurate description of $`\kappa _{\mathrm{ph}}`$ than our simple approach is necessary. In principle, such can be achieved when the full set of $`v_𝐤^i`$, $`ϵ_𝐤^i`$ and $`l_𝐤^i=v_𝐤^i\tau _𝐤^i`$ (with the phonon life time $`\tau _𝐤^i`$), accessible through neutron scattering experiments, is employed into the $`\varkappa ^i`$ in Eq. 1.

In conclusion, we have used a simple model in order to analyze the phononic out-of-plane thermal conductivity $`\kappa _c`$ of $`\mathrm{La}_{1.8\mathrm{x}}\mathrm{Eu}_{0.2}\mathrm{Sr}_\mathrm{x}\mathrm{CuO}_4`$ in terms of contributions by acoustic and optic phonons. Heat conductivity by optical phonons turns out to be significant in this material, since according to our approach it amounts at room temperature to about 40% of the total phonon thermal conductivity. This result has important implications for studies on magnetic heat transport of low dimensional spin systems which are currently on debate Sologubenko00 ; Hess01 ; Hess02 ; Hess03b ; Hess03 ; Sologubenko00a ; Sologubenko01 ; Lorenz02 . Unusual $`T`$-dependencies of $`\kappa `$ which are hastily attributed to magnetic heat transport must carefully be excluded to stem from heat transport by dispersive optical phonons. We stress that more careful analysis of this usually underestimated mechanism of heat transport is desirable.

C.H. acknowledges support by the DFG through grant HE3439/3-1. We thank M. Braden for helpful discussions and N. Jenkins for proofreading the manuscript.


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# SN 2002ap, the hypernova of class Ic

## 1 Introduction

Hypernovae of class Ic are characterized by smooth and featureless spectrum at early epochs, with no lines due to hydrogen and helium in their spectra. According to the current interpretation, these objects have the usual lines of SN Ic but with extreme Doppler broadening caused by unusually high expansion velocities. The maximum brightness of SN 2002ap was $`M_v=17.2`$ mag comparable to that of SN 1997ef but fainter than SN 1998bw (Patat et al. 2001, Pandey et al. 2003). Spectroscopically also, SN 2002ap was found to be closer to SN 1997ef than to SN 1998bw (Mazzali et al. 2002). The late time light curve of SN 2002ap indicates a decay rate of $``$ 0.016 mag day-1, around $``$ 300 days after the explosion. During a similar time interval SN 1998bw also decayed with the same rate.

## 2 Late Time $`BVRI`$ Light Curve of SN 2002ap

$`BVRI`$ photometric observations were carried out from 104–cm NainiTal and 2–m Himalayan Chadra Telescope (HCT), Hanle using CCD cameras. Fig. 1 shows the $`BVRI`$ light curve of SN 2002ap including late time observations. The span of our present observations are from $``$ 2452500 JD to $``$ 2452640 JD, similar to that in SN 1998bw (Galama et al. 1998, Patat et al. 2001). The values of late time decay slopes are 0.0173$`\pm `$0.0005, 0.0158$`\pm `$0.0002, 0.0151$`\pm `$0.0005 and 0.0147$`\pm `$0.0002 for $`I,R,V`$ and $`B`$ bands respectively for the phase range of 200 – 330 days from $`B`$ maxima. These values match with the corresponding slopes of SN 1998bw for the phase range 40 – 330 days from $`B`$ maxima (Patat et al. 2001). If we consider the phase range 40 – 330 days from $`B`$ maxima to determine the slope values, they are steeper than the slope values of SN 1998bw for the same phase range (Patat et al. 2001, Pandey et al. 2003).

## 3  Conclusions

$`BVRI`$ photometric results are presented to investigate the light curve of SN 2002ap . The determined late time decay slope values for $`B,V,R`$ and $`I`$ passbands for the phase range 200 – 340 days from $`B`$ maxima for SN 2002ap, indicate that the values are almost the same in all filters. This behaviour is similar to that observed in SN 1998bw during the same evolutionary phase (Patat et al. 2001). The (B - V), (V - R) and (R - I) colour evolutions show no considerable changes in the values during the late time, indicating a slow evolution of the late time spectrum. In the light of above, we conclude that SN 2002ap has not yet reached the evolutionary stage powered by 56Co $`^{56}`$Fe decay.


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# Josephson effect as a measure of quantum fluctuations in the cuprates

## Abstract

Quantitative analysis of the Josephson effect is shown to provide direct information about phase fluctuations in the superconducting banks. Applying the analysis to the cuprates, substantial quantum fluctuations between $`d`$-wave and $`s`$-wave pairing are found at low temperatures. A phenomenological model of such fluctuations is introduced and solved in a self-consistent single-site approximation. The cuprate parameters are argued to lie close to an exotic superconductor phase with condensation of electron quadruplets.

More than a decade ago, it has been suggested that the Josephson effect can be used as a direct probe of the angular dependence of the order parameter phase in the cuprates Sigrist92 . Since then, several types of phase sensitive experiments have been performed, and an overwhelming majority of them confirmes the $`d`$-wave symmetry of pairing in the cuprates (for a review, see Tsuei00 ).

In absence of time reversal symmetry breaking, the superconducting current $`I`$ as a function of the phase difference $`\varphi `$ across the Josephson junction reads $`I(\varphi )=_nI_n\mathrm{sin}n\varphi `$ Likharev79 , and in the usually applicable tunnel limit only the first harmonics $`I_1`$ needs to be considered. In typical phase sensitive experiments Tsuei00 , one tests only the dependence of the sign of $`I_1`$ on the junction geometry. In a recent series of experiments the function $`I(\varphi )`$, which contains a more complete information about the equilibrium superconducting properties of a Josephson junction, has been measured for junctions involving the cuprates (for a review, see Hlubina02b ).

The present work is motivated by the special features of $`I(\varphi )`$ found in the cuprates, in particular by the small first harmonics and the large second harmonics of $`I(\varphi )`$. The outline of this Letter is as follows. First we show that a quantitative analysis of the current-phase relation $`I(\varphi )`$ provides information about the phase fluctuations in the superconducting banks Hlubina02a ; Hlubina02b . Further we introduce a phenomenological model of phase fluctuations in the cuprates and solve it within the simplest nontrivial self-consistent approximation. Finally we discuss the microscopic justification of the phenomenological model.

Let us start by considering a Josephson junction described, in absence of phase fluctuations in the banks, by the harmonics $`I_n`$. Now, let us switch on phase fluctuations and denote the fluctuating part of the phase in the bank $`i=1,2`$ as $`\phi _i`$. In the tunnel limit the phase fluctuations in different banks can be considered independent of each other. Thus at time scales longer than the typical fluctuation time and/or for junctions larger than the fluctuation correlation length, $`I(\varphi )`$ renormalizes to

$$\stackrel{~}{I}(\varphi )=\underset{n}{}I_n\mathrm{sin}n(\varphi +\phi _1\phi _2)=\underset{n}{}\stackrel{~}{I_n}\mathrm{sin}n\varphi ,$$

where the renormalized $`n`$-th harmonic reads $`\stackrel{~}{I_n}/I_n=\mathrm{cos}n\phi _1\mathrm{cos}n\phi _2`$. In grain boundary junctions with a $`45^{}`$ misorientation between the cuprates, the first two harmonics are experimentally accessible. A detailed analysis of the data Hlubina02a ; Hlubina02b  suggests that

$`\alpha =\mathrm{cos}\phi 0.3,\beta =\mathrm{cos}2\phi 1.`$ (1)
We would like to point out that the value of $`\alpha `$ was determined from the Josephson product $`I_cR_N`$ of a large set of cuprate/cuprate and of cuprate/low-$`T_c`$ junctions (for reviews, see Hilgenkamp02 ; Tsuei00 ) which are renormalized by $`\alpha ^2`$ and $`\alpha `$, respectively. The values of $`\alpha `$ determined using both types of junctions are in semiquantitative agreement with each other and as such appear to be quite reliable Hlubina02a ; Hlubina02b . On the other hand, the value of $`\beta `$ is subject to a larger uncertainty, being based on a much smaller set of experimental data Hlubina02b . However, the (anomalous) inequality $`\beta >\alpha `$ seems to be quite reliable.

Now we proceed by introducing a minimal model of phase fluctuations consistent with Eq. (1). Our model is motivated by the strong-coupling RVB picture of the cuprates which views the cuprates as a liquid of predominantly local singlets Anderson87 . While the pairs are formed at a high energy scale $`J`$, they acquire phase coherence only at a much lower scale. Therefore we assign a fluctuating phase field $`\phi _i`$ to each bond $`i`$ of the square Cu lattice. Note that $`\phi _i`$ is the phase of a Cooper pair, i.e. of a charge $`2e`$ object.

Let us first consider a toy model in which the fluctuating part $`\delta _i`$ of the phase at each link is either 0 or $`\pm \pi `$, with probabilities $`P_1=(1+\alpha )/20.65`$ and $`P_2=(1\alpha )/20.35`$, respectively. One finds readily that Eq. (1) is satisfied in such a model. On the other hand, Fig. 1 shows a snapshot of a typical $`\phi _i`$ configuration for such fluctuations. Note that the probabilities that a lattice point supports local $`d`$, $`d`$, $`s`$, and $`s`$ pairing symmetry are $`P_1^20.42`$, $`P_2^20.12`$, $`P_1P_20.23`$, and $`P_1P_20.23`$, respectively. In other words, the numerical values in Eq. (1) suggest the presence of strong quantum fluctuations from $`d`$-wave to $`s`$-wave pairing Hlubina02a .

The simplest model of a superconducting CuO2 plane which allows for phase fluctuations, takes into account the compact nature of the phase field, and assumes dominant $`d`$-wave and subdominant $`s`$-wave pairing (with pairing strengths $`V+W`$ and $`VW`$, respectively), reads

$`H=m^1{\displaystyle \underset{i}{}}^2/\phi _i^2+{\displaystyle \underset{i,j}{}}E_J(\phi _i,\phi _j).`$ (2)
The first term in Eq. (2) which allows for quantum fluctuations of phase can be thought of as a local charging energy at site $`i`$. Note that from now on, instead of bonds we talk about the sites of a (dual) lattice. The second term where $`i,j`$ denotes a pair of nearest neighbor sites can be viewed as a Josephson coupling between the sites $`i`$ and $`j`$, $`E_J(\phi _i,\phi _j)=V\mathrm{cos}(2\phi _i2\phi _j)+W\mathrm{cos}(\phi _i\phi _j)`$. Note that the sign of the $`W`$ term is different from the standard convention, because of the $`d`$-wave symmetry of pairing in the cuprates.

Let us point out that our model Eq. (2) includes the quantum XY model Chakravarty88  as a special limit $`V=0`$; we will show that the most spectacular effects occur at $`VW`$. Note also that we haven’t considered dissipative effects in Eq. (2). Since the cuprates are $`d`$-wave superconductors with low-lying fermionic excitations Lee97 , this is a nontrivial assumption which needs to be studied in future work.

In what follows we study the model Eq. (2) by constructing a variational solution of the form

$$\psi (\phi _1,\phi _2,\mathrm{})=\mathrm{\Pi }_i\psi _i(\phi _i),$$
(3)
where the product runs over all lattice sites and the local functions $`\psi _i`$ are $`2\pi `$ periodic. The Schrödinger equation for the lattice point $`i`$ reads

$$[m^1^2/\phi ^2+U_i(\phi )]\psi _i(\phi )=\epsilon _i\psi _i(\phi ),$$
(4)
with a self-consistent potential

$$U_i(\phi )=\underset{\tau }{}\left[V\mathrm{cos}2\phi _{i+\tau }\mathrm{cos}2\phi +W\mathrm{cos}\phi _{i+\tau }\mathrm{cos}\phi \right],$$

where the sum runs over the four nearest-neighbor sites $`i+\tau `$ of the studied site and $`f(\phi )_i=𝑑\phi f(\phi )|\psi _i(\phi )|^2`$. Note that the single-site approximation Eq. (3) is similar in spirit to the self-consistent harmonic approximation Chakravarty88 , but goes beyond it by treating the local problem exactly, which is instrumental in the present context.

Now we specialize to the case of a two-sublattice solution with $`\psi _i(\phi )=\psi _A(\phi )`$ and $`\psi _i(\phi )=\psi _B(\phi )`$ for $`i`$ in sublattice $`A`$ and $`B`$, respectively. Note that this corresponds to a translationally invariant solution on the original lattice. Assuming furthermore a $`d`$-wave solution, $`\psi _B(\phi )=\psi _A(\phi +\pi )`$, we obtain $`\mathrm{cos}n\phi _B=(1)^n\mathrm{cos}n\phi _A`$. The self-consistent Hamiltonian for sublattice $`A`$ therefore reads

$$H=^2/\phi ^2a\mathrm{cos}\phi b\mathrm{cos}2\phi ,$$
(5)
where we have measured the energy in units of $`m^1`$. Introducing dimensionless interaction parameters $`v=mV`$ and $`w=mW`$, the dimensionless self-consistent potentials read

$`a=4w\alpha ,b=4v\beta ,`$ (6)
where $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$ are defined in Eq. (1) in which the mean values $`\mathrm{}`$ are to be calculated with respect to the solution of Eq. (5). The total energy per lattice site $`\overline{\epsilon }`$ differs from the lowest eigenvalue $`\epsilon `$ of the Hamiltonian Eq. (5):

$$\overline{\epsilon }=\epsilon +(a\alpha +b\beta )/2.$$
(7)
In Fig. 2 we plot the potential energy entering Eq. (5) in the limit $`ba`$ relevant to the cuprates. The classical solutions at $`\phi =0`$ and $`\phi =\pm \pi `$ are nearly degenerate, their splitting being $`2a`$. The ground-state wavefunction $`\psi (\phi )`$ is localized predominantly in the vicinity of $`\phi =0`$, but tunneling across the finite barrier leads to a second peak of $`\psi (\phi )`$ in the vicinity of $`\phi =\pm \pi `$. In complete analogy with the toy model Fig. 1, this tunneling leads to quantum fluctuations between $`d`$-wave and $`s`$-wave pairing, which are thus seen to be essentially local.

Self-consistent solution to Eqs.(5,6,1) shows that three phases exist in the $`w>0`$ part of the phase diagram of the model Eq. (2), see Fig. 3: (i) a conventional $`d`$-wave superconducting phase with $`\alpha >0`$ and $`\beta >0`$ realized for sufficiently large $`v,w`$; (ii) a quantum disordered phase with $`\alpha =\beta =0`$ at small $`v,w`$; and (iii) an exotic superconductor phase with $`\alpha =0`$ and $`\beta >0`$ appearing at large $`v`$ and small $`w`$.

Extending the phase diagram for $`w>0`$ to negative values of $`w`$, one verifies easily that the role of $`d`$-wave and $`s`$-wave pairing is interchanged and therefore the phase diagram for $`w<0`$ is a mirror image of that for $`w>0`$. This implies that within the quantum model Eq. (2), upon changing the sign of $`W`$ the superconducting state switches from $`d`$-wave to $`s`$-wave symmetry by crossing one of the two nontrivial phases in Fig. 3. Which of the two possible intermediate states is realized depends on the strength of quantum fluctuations. In the limit of strong fluctuations (small $`v`$), an intermediate quantum disordered state is realized \[phase (ii)\], which is presumably insulating. If the strength of quantum fluctuations decreases, the exotic phase (iii) separates the two conventional pairing states. In the classical limit $`m\mathrm{}`$ the width of phase (iii) vanishes. In what follows we argue that although $`\mathrm{cos}\phi =0`$ in phase (iii), it does represent a superconductor, albeit an exotic one, since it can be thought of as a condensate of pairs of Cooper pairs, or quadruplets of electrons note . Note that phase (iii) bears some similarity to the fractionalized superconductor discussed in Senthil00 .

Let us show now that phase (iii) is described by a macroscopic Ginzburg-Landau type wavefunction $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{GL}(x,y)`$ with a nonvanishing phase rigidity. To this end consider the many body wavefunction Eq. (3) with the following choice of local wavefunctions,

$`\psi _{i+\widehat{x}}(\phi )`$ $`=`$ $`\psi _i(\phi +\pi +\chi _1),`$
$`\psi _{i+\widehat{y}}(\phi )`$ $`=`$ $`\psi _i(\phi +\pi +\chi _2),`$ (8)
where $`\widehat{x}`$ and $`\widehat{y}`$ are unit vectors of the lattice in the $`x`$ and $`y`$ directions, respectively. Eq. (8) corresponds to a macroscopic wavefunction with an internal $`d`$-wave symmetry and a spatially modulated phase $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{GL}(x,y)\mathrm{exp}i(\chi _1x+\chi _2y)/d_0`$, where $`d_0`$ is the lattice constant of the dual lattice. The Schrödinger equation for site $`i`$ can still be written in the form of Eq. (4) with a selfconsistent potential satisfying $`U_{i+\widehat{x}}(\phi )=U_i(\phi +\pi +\chi _1)`$ and $`U_{i+\widehat{y}}(\phi )=U_i(\phi +\pi +\chi _2)`$. The periodicity of the local wavefunctions together with Eq. (8) guarantees that all local energies $`\epsilon _i`$ are equal. For a general lattice point $`i`$ the potential $`U_i(\phi )`$ contains terms proportional to both $`\mathrm{cos}n\phi `$ and $`\mathrm{sin}n\phi `$ with $`n=1,2`$. However, we assume that there exists one special lattice point for which the terms propoportional to $`\mathrm{sin}n\phi `$ vanish. For this lattice point the Hamiltonian can be written in the form of Eq. (5). The set of self-consistent equations is closed by Eq. (6), in which the effective interaction strengths $`w_{\mathrm{eff}}=w(\mathrm{cos}\chi _1+\mathrm{cos}\chi _2)/2`$ and $`v_{\mathrm{eff}}=v(\mathrm{cos}2\chi _1+\mathrm{cos}2\chi _2)/2`$ have to be used instead of $`w`$ and $`v`$, respectively. Since the total energy per lattice site is still given by Eq. (7), the energy difference between a modulated and a uniform macroscopic state can be written in a Ginzburg-Landau type form

$$\delta \overline{\epsilon }=\overline{\epsilon }(w_{\mathrm{eff}},v_{\mathrm{eff}})\overline{\epsilon }(w,v)\frac{\overline{\epsilon }}{w}\delta w\frac{\overline{\epsilon }}{v}\delta v,$$
(9)
where $`\delta w=ww_{\mathrm{eff}}w(\chi _1^2+\chi _2^2)/4`$ and $`\delta v=vv_{\mathrm{eff}}v(\chi _1^2+\chi _2^2)`$ and the approximate equations are valid for slowly varying macroscopic wavefunctions, $`\chi _1,\chi _21`$. In the conventional superconductor phase \[phase (i)\] we expect in a generic point of the phase diagram $`\overline{\epsilon }/w<0`$ and $`\overline{\epsilon }/v<0`$. From Eq. (9) it then follows that in the long-wavelength limit $`\delta \overline{\epsilon }(\chi _1^2+\chi _2^2)`$, as it should be in a superconductor with a finite phase stiffness. On the other hand, in phase (iii) we have $`\overline{\epsilon }/w=0`$, but the inset to Fig. 4 shows explicitly that $`\overline{\epsilon }/v<0`$, which is enough to guarantee a finite phase stiffness in this case as well. Thus we have shown that the phase (iii) is an exotic superconductor.

Returning to the physics of cuprates, Eq.(1) implies that if we insist on their description in terms of the model Eq. (2), then its parameters should be chosen inside the phase (i), but close to phase (iii). Fig. 4 shows explicitly that in this case it is possible to have $`\alpha 0.3<\beta `$. Within our simplistic model it is difficult to have $`\beta 1`$ at the same time, because this would require small quantum fluctuations (large $`v`$). However, for $`v1`$ the difference $`W`$ between the $`d`$-wave and $`s`$-wave pairing strengths needs to be implausibly small in order to stabilize the exotic superconductor phase.

Next we address the question whether it is reasonable to assume that, within a realistic model of the cuprates, $`d`$-wave and $`s`$-wave pairing are competitive in energy. Lead by the hypothesis that the symmetry of pairing is correctly determined already at weak coupling Hlubina99 , we have studied the superconducting phase diagram of the $`t`$-$`t^{}`$ Hubbard model for $`t^{}/t=0.45`$ and a moderate interaction strength $`U/t=6`$ as a function of the electron density $`\rho `$ in the vicinity of $`\rho =0.7`$. This choice of parameters is close to the canonical values for the cuprates and it is inspired by the results of Hlubina99 , where a $`d`$-wave/$`s`$-wave pairing transition was found in this region.

In Fig. 5 we plot the superconducting transition temperatures determined by the variational method for a Kohn-Luttinger superconductor Mraz02  in the two dominant pairing symmetries ($`d`$-wave and $`s`$-wave). Note that for extremely overdoped cuprates with $`\rho <\rho _c0.7`$, $`s`$-wave pairing is the leading instability. It is also shown that close to $`\rho _c`$, $`T_c`$ in the leading subdominant pairing symmetry sector ($`d_{xy}`$-wave) is much smaller than $`T_{cd}`$, $`T_{cs}`$.

According to Eq. (2), the condensation energy per site in absence of phase fluctuations is $`2(V+W)`$ and $`2(VW)`$ in the $`d`$-wave and $`s`$-wave pairing sectors, respectively. At weak coupling, these condensation energies are proportional to $`T_{cd}^2`$ and $`T_{cs}^2`$. By comparing these expressions, we obtain a rough estimate of the coupling constants $`V`$ and $`W`$. The results are shown in Fig. 5. Note that with hole doping $`x=1\rho `$ decreasing from $`x_c0.3`$ towards experimentally accessible values, both $`W`$ and $`V`$ and their ratio $`W/V`$ increase. On the other hand, also the fluctuations are expected to grow with underdoping, i.e. $`m0`$ as $`x0`$ Anderson87 ; Uemura89 . This brings us to the question about the doping dependence of $`v=mV`$ and $`w=mW`$. We hypothesize that with reduced doping, the effect of $`m0`$ dominates and the cuprates track the line in Fig. 3 between the points OD and UD. Under further reducing the hole density, the insulating quantum disordered phase should be reached. This can happen either directly or via crossing the exotic superconductor phase, as indicated by the dashed lines in Fig. 3.

It should be remarked that the question about how $`I(\varphi )`$ depends on the doping level is very difficult to address experimentally. An interesting possibility might be to study artificially doped grain boundary junctions Hammerl00 .

In conclusion, we have found that the two seemingly independent experimental observations in the cuprates, namely the large first and the small second harmonics of the Josephson current, can be explained by a single assumption of substantial quantum fluctuations between $`d`$-wave and $`s`$-wave pairing at low temperatures. We have introduced a phenomenological model of such fluctuations and solved it in a self-consistent single-site approximation. We have argued that the cuprate parameters lie close to an exotic superconductor phase with condensation of electron quadruplets. Finally, $`d`$-wave and $`s`$-wave pairing were shown to be competitive within the Hubbard model for parameters close to the canonical values for the cuprates.

R. H. thanks E. Tosatti and T. V. Ramakrishnan for useful comments. This work was supported by the Slovak Scientific Grant Agency under Grant No. VEGA-1/9177/02 and by the Slovak Science and Technology Assistance Agency under Grant No. APVT-51-021602.


text:
# Growth and optical properties of GaN/AlN quantum wells

## Abstract

We demonstrate the growth of GaN/AlN quantum well structures by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy by taking advantage of the surfactant effect of Ga. The GaN/AlN quantum wells show photoluminescence emission with photon energies in the range between 4.2 and 2.3 eV for well widths between 0.7 and 2.6 nm, respectively. An internal electric field strength of $`9.2\pm 1.0`$ MV/cm is deduced from the dependence of the emission energy on the well width.

Group III nitride semiconductor compounds have recently demonstrated their capacity for light emission in the green to the near-ultraviolet (UV) spectral range Nakamura . In the view of extending this range further into the UV region, GaN/(Al,Ga)N heterostructures have gained increasing interest. The optical properties of such heterostructures have been found to be strongly influenced by internal electric fields leading to a large red-shift of the emission wavelength by the quantum-confined Stark effect (QCSE) Im ; Leroux ; Widmann ; Grandjean ; Langer ; Simon . Such internal electric fields stem from both a piezoelectrical polarization due to biaxial strain in the nanostructure Im ; Leroux ; Widmann ; Grandjean  or in the barriers Langer ; Simon  as well as from the difference of the spontaneous polarization in the nanostructure and the barriers Bernardini97 ; Simon .

The large majority of work in the GaN/(Al,Ga)N system has been performed for GaN/AlxGa1-xN quantum wells (QWs), where the Al content $`x`$ is usually lower than about 0.3 Im ; Leroux ; Grandjean ; Langer ; Simon . By contrast, little work has been devoted to GaN/AlN heterostructures Nam ; Ohba ; Keller , with the exception of some reports on GaN/AlN quantum dots (QDs) Widmann ; Damilano ; Andreev ; Simon2 . In the present letter, we report on the growth and optical properties GaN/AlN QWs and determine the value of the internal electric field for this material system, which can be used as a “prototype” system for the comparison of experimental and calculated magnitudes of internal electric field.

The samples were grown in a MECA2000 molecular-beam epitaxy growth chamber equipped with standard effusion cells for Al and Ga evaporation. The active nitrogen was provided by an Applied EPI Unibulb rf plasma cell. The plasma cell conditions were chosen to obtain GaN and AlN growth rates of 300 nm/h under metal-rich (N-limited) conditions. The pseudo-substrates used were about 1.5 $`\mu `$m thick (0001) (Al-polarity) AlN layers deposited by MOCVD on sapphire.

GaN (0001) (Ga-polarity) layers were deposited at a substrate temperature of 730 oC. At this temperature, under near-stoichiometric or N-rich conditions, GaN QD formation following a Stranski-Krastanow growth mode has been reported Daudin . However, it has also been shown that two-dimensional GaN growth can be obtained under strongly Ga-rich growth conditions due to the surfactant effect of excess Ga Mula . For the growth of the GaN/AlN QWs studied in this letter, this effect was used to obtain two-dimensional flat GaN layers. They were subsequently rapidly overgrown by AlN under strongly Al-rich conditions before the evaporation of excess Ga on the surface (with an excess Ga film still present). The evaporation of this Ga film would lead to GaN islanding and thus to GaN QD formation Adelmann .

A cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image of a single 2.6 nm thick GaN QW is depicted in Fig. 1(a). The GaN layer appears flat, regular, uniform, and exhibits no defects. One might expect that the excess Ga present on the surface at the beginning of AlN growth favor the formation of an AlxGa1-xN alloy at the upper interface. However, a preliminary analysis of high resolution TEM images \[Fig. 1 (b)\] suggests that this process is rather limited, although the second interface (AlN grown on GaN) is slightly broader by about 1 monolayer (ML). This limitation is presumably due to preferential incorporation of Al with respect to Ga, leading to AlN growth even in the presence of Ga when Al is provided in excess of N. As a whole, interdiffusion appears restricted at this growth temperature, similar to the case of GaN/AlN QDs Arlery . A more detailed TEM study will be published elsewhere Sari .

The optical properties of GaN/AlN QWs were studied using a series of samples, each containing a single GaN QW grown capped by about 100 nm of AlN. The QW width was varied between 0.7 and 2.6 nm. The QW thickness was measured for all samples with a precision of $`\pm 0.1`$ ML by *ex situ* Rutherford backscattering spectrometry using 2 MeV $`\alpha `$-particles from a van de Graaff accelerator. For some samples, the thickness was also cross-checked by TEM measurements and found in good agreement with the RBS results. Low-temperature (8 K) photoluminescence (PL) was performed using a frequency-doubled cw Argon laser at $`\lambda =244`$ nm (5.08 eV), *i.e.* by pumping in the excited states of the QWs. The excitation density was a few W/cm2. It is worth noting that the blueshift of the QW emission induced by increasing the excitation density by an order of magnitude was negligible with respect to the emission linewidth, which demonstrates that screening effects due to photo-induced carriers in the QWs can be precluded.

PL spectra of GaN/AlN QWs for widths as indicated are depicted in Fig. 2. We observe that the emission energy decreases strongly with increasing QW width. At a QW thickness of around 1.3 nm, the emission energy passes below the GaN bandgap energy, which can be assigned to the QCSE. For a QW thickness of 2.6 nm, we observe PL emission at 2.35 eV, *i.e.* in the yellow spectral range. The full-width at half maximum (FWHM) of the PL peaks is around 300–350 meV for all QWs and the oscillations of the PL intensity can be attributed to Fabry-Perot interferences between the sample surface and the AlN/sapphire interface.

The variation of the QW emission energy with the QW width is shown in Fig. 3. The solid lines represent the results of a calculation of the fundamental transition energies of a triangular QW. The GaN band gap was assumed to be $`E_G(\mathrm{GaN})=3.645`$ eV under 2.4% compressive biaxial strain Gil ; the AlN band gap was taken as $`E_G(\mathrm{AlN})=6.28`$ eV, with a relative conduction band offset of $`\mathrm{\Delta }E_C/\mathrm{\Delta }E_G=0.75`$ Martin . The effective electron masses were assumed to be 0.22 and 0.40, the effective (heavy) hole masses 1 and 3.5 for GaN and AlN, respectively (in units of the free electron mass). Excitonic effects were neglected since an estimate showed that they excitonic binding energied are weak (a few 10 meV) even for thin QWs due to the electric field-induced spatial separation of electrons and holes Andre . To mimic the Stokes shift due to QW width fluctuations, $`0.6\times \mathrm{FWHM}`$ of the experimental PL linewidth was subtracted from the calculated transition energies (assuming that the adsorption linewidth is similar to the observed PL linewidth) Yang . For simplicity, we use a constant offset of 200 meV independent of the QW width. The internal electric field was used as a parameter. We find the experimental PL emission energies in good agreement with the calculations for an internal electric field between $`F=9`$ MV/cm and $`F=10`$ MV/cm. As the calculations show that the transition energy decreases linearly with increasing QW width, the electric field is more precisely determined by a linear fit to the data, yielding $`9.2\pm 1.0`$ MV/cm. With this value, note that the experimental FWHM of the PL peaks can be accounted for by monolayer fluctuations of the well width ($`\pm 0.25`$ nm), in keeping with the HRTEM results.

The internal electric field in GaN/AlN QWs is slightly larger than that experimentally observed in GaN/AlN QDs (7 MV/cm) Widmann , which can be tentatively understood by a different strain state of QWs and QDs. The strain tensor of the latter is expected to contain a non-zero hydrostatic component, which has the tendency to lower the piezoelectric polarization.

The value of 9.2 MV/cm is in excellent agreement with the theoretical prediction by Bernardini *et al.* Bernardini97  of 9.5 MV/cm for GaN/AlN. Note that our experimental result is a factor of 2 higher than the highest published theoretical value considering piezoelectric polarization alone (4.6 MV/cm, Ref. Martin, ). This clearly demonstrates that piezoelectric polarization is not sufficient to explain the magnitude of the observed internal electric field and that spontaneous polarization is necessary to account for the observed magnitude of the internal electric fields in GaN/AlN QWs. This result further insinuates that the contributions of piezoelectric and spontaneous polarization are of the same order of magnitude.

We have also examined GaN/AlN QWs with width larger than 2.6 nm, namely two samples with QW widths of 3.4 and 4.4 nm, respectively. However, none of these samples showed PL emission within our experimentally-accessible spectral range down to about 0.7 eV. An extrapolation of the fit in Fig. 3 shows that at least the 3.4 nm wide QW should luminesce in this range. This suggests that plastic relaxation of the GaN layer might become significant around a thickness of $`3`$ nm, *i.e.* that, for larger GaN QWs, the mean distance between dislocations becomes of the order of the carrier diffusion length or the correlation length of the interface roughness (*i.e.* the lateral confinement length scale), leading to a prevalence of non-radiative recombination.

In conclusion, we have demonstrated the growth of single GaN/AlN QWs by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy taking advantage of the Ga surfactant effect to induce two-dimensional GaN growth at a substrate temperature of 730 oC. The GaN/AlN QWs show PL emission ranging from UV (4.2 eV) to the yellow (2.3 eV) spectral range. The variation of the QW emission energy with the QW width can be accounted for by an internal electric field of $`9.2\pm 1.0`$ MV/cm. This unambiguously demonstrates that the optical properties of GaN/(Al,Ga)N heterostructures cannot be described in terms of a piezoelectric effect only and spontaneous polarization must also be considered.

The authors would like to thank R. André (Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France) for providing the computer program to calculate the quantum well emission energies and N. T. Pelekanos (FORTH/IESL, Heraklion, Greece) for his careful reading of the manuscript.