The results of photoconduction study of the Peierls conductors are reviewed. The studied materials are quasi-one-dimensional conductors with the charge-density wave: K0.3MoO3, both monoclinic and orthorhombic TaS3 and also a semiconducting phase of NbS3 (phase I). Experimental methods, relaxation times, effects of illumination on linear and nonlinear charge transport, the electric-field effect on photoconduction and results of the spectral studies are described. We demonstrate, in particular, that a simple model of modulated energy gap slightly smoothed by fluctuations fits the available spectral data fairly well. The level of the fluctuations is surprisingly small and does not exceed a few percent of the optical energy gap value.
@article{arxiv.1410.7002,
title = {Charge-density waves physics revealed by photoconduction},
author = {S. V. Zaitsev-Zotov and V. F. Nasretdinova and V. E. Minakova},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1410.7002},
year = {2014}
}