Magneto-optical properties of Li0.9Mo6O17:: Color change in applied magnetic field -: art. no. 085107

The polarized magneto-optical response of Li0.9Mo6O17 was measured in order to investigate the effect of a high magnetic field on the optical properties of a quasi-one-dimensional conductor. The observed magnetochromic effect is attributed to field-induced changes in the density of states near the Fermi level and is manifest in both Mo d-->d on-site and O p-->Mo d charge transfer excitations. The observed polarization dependence of the field-induced color change is consistent with the low energy scale of this effect.