Coherent tunneling between elementary conducting layers in the NbSe3 charge-density-wave conductor

Characteristic features of transverse transport along the a* axis in the NbSe3 charge-density-wave conductor are studied. At low temperatures, the I-V characteristics of both layered structures and NbSe3-NbSe3 point contacts exhibit a strong peak of dynamic conductivity at zero bias voltage. In addition, the I-V characteristics of layered structures exhibit a series of peaks that occur at voltages equal to multiples of the double Peierls gap. The conductivity behavior observed in the experiment resembles that reported for the interlayer tunneling in Bi-2212 high-T-c superconductors. The conductivity peak at zero bias is explained using the model of almost coherent interlayer tunneling of the charge carriers that are not condensed in the charge density wave. (C) 2002 MAIK Nauka / Interperiodica.