Optical properties and electronic structure of Ca-doped alpha'-NaV2O5

The dielectric function of alpha'-Na(1-x)Ca(x)V2O5 (0 < x < 20%) was measured for the a and b axes in the photon energy range 0.8-4.5 eV at room temperature. By varying the Ca-concentration we control the relative abundancy of V4+ and V5+. We observe that the intensity of the main optical absorption peak at 1 eV is proportional to the number of V5+ ions. This rules out the interpretation as a V4+ d-d excitation, and it establishes that this is the on-rung bonding-antibonding transition.