An anomalous nonmonotonic contribution to the temperature dependence of the electron heat capacity of mercury selenide is detected. This is explained in terms of hybridized electronic states on donor impurities. The observed effect is described by a theory of electron heat capacity based on a quantum Fermi-liquid approach including localization and electron-electron interactions. A quantitative interpretation of the experimental dependences yields values for the parameters of the hybridized states that are consistent with those known from other experiments. A new parameter characterizing the electron-electron interaction in the hybridized states is also found.
The temperature dependence of the speed of sound in crystalline mercury selenide with low concentrations of iron impurities is studied. Experiments are conducted in the ranges of concentration and temperature where hybridized electronic states in iron impurities have been observed previously. It is found that at temperatures below 10 K the speed of slow transverse ultrasonic waves has an anomalous nonmonotonic segment of its temperature variation that is related to the influence of the impurities and reflects the existence of hybridized states. The observed anomalies in the sound speed are described in terms of a theory for the electron contribution to the elastic moduli that includes hybridization of impurity states and electron-electron interactions. Fits of the theoretical dependences to the experimental data yield quantitative information on the parameters of the hybridized states and of the Fermi-liquid interaction.
The article presents the experimental results concerning the role of cobalt impurities in low tem perature electrical conduction and in the Hall concentration of electrons in crystals of mercury selenide. In the limit of small concentrations of the impurities, a slow variation of the electron concentration was found as a function of impurity content, which can correspond to a donor character of the impurity d levels of cobalt atoms located in the conduction band of the host crystal under conditions of hybridization. Characteristic features have been observed in the concentration and temperature dependences of the electrical conductivity, similar to those that manifest themselves in crystals with hybridized states of iron impurities. As a result, the set of data obtained on crystals with cobalt impurities, including the previously published data on the concen tration dependence of the Curie constant and on the temperature dependence of thermopower, can be used on a qualitative level as an experimental substantiation of the previously predicted existence of two donor hybridized electron states of a cobalt impurity atom in the conduction band.
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