PHOTOINDUCED CHARGE-DENSITY-WAVE CONDUCTION

The blue bronze K0.3MoO3 has been irradiated by a pulsed infrared laser beam with a photon energy corresponding to the single-particle gap. In the experiments, performed at T = 4.2 K, no direct photocurrent due to normal carriers was observable; however, we found a unique phenomenon, photoinduced collective electron transport. We argue that the electrostatic screening by the optically excited single electrons initiates the sliding of the charge-density-wave condensate, and it is this collective motion which dominates the photocurrent.