Normal state electrodynamics of compounds with charge- and spin-density-wave ground states

We have examined the normal state (T > T-c) optical properties (1-10(5) cm(-1)) of low-dimensional conductors which exhibit either charge- or spin-density-wave ground states and have found important deviations from simple metallic behavior. In the case of both the charge-density-wave (CDW) compound K0.3MoO3 (T-c = 183 K) and the spin-density-wave (SDW) compound (TMTSF)(2)PF6 (T-c = 12 K), the optical conductivity along the conducting chain axis is dominated by two distinct features, rather than a single Drude peak.