Photoinduced electrification of solids. III. Temperature dependences

Abstract

Two preceding parts of a paper (cond-mat/0508457, cond-mat/0508460) considered the heuristic values of recent experiments pointing to the nearly universal occurrence of photovoltages across solid surfaces under short-circuit conditions. These voltages arise by virtue of a variety of spectrally-dependent mechanisms activated by incident photons. For the visible range, the photovoltages are obliged to the photodetachment of ions which leave the surface charged. In an attempt to learn more, we now study short-circuit photovoltages in well-defined materials including high-Tc superconductors within a broad temperature range down to liquid nitrogen. We believe our data provide a new insight into the process.