PHOTOCONDUCTION IN THE BLUE BRONZE

We have investigated the photoconductivity in the linear chain compoun d K0.3MoO3. The experiments were performed at T=4.2 K using pulsed inf rared laser beam with photon energy corresponding to the single partic le gap. The electric field dependence of the observed photocurrent sug gests that the optically excited electrons initiate the sliding of the charge density wave condensate, and the current of the collective mod e dominates over any single particle contribution. We discuss the role of the electrostatic screening in this mechanism and give an estimati on of the efficiency for a photon to excite an electron across the gap .