Abstract
The optical absorption spectra of HgCr2Se4 single crystals in the intrinsic transition region were measured as a function of magnetic field at a number of fixed temperatures. The absorption edge, 0.80 eV, at room temperature shifted to 0.27 eV at liquid helium temperature. The temperature dependence of the absorption edge was nonlinear and remarkable around the Curie temperature. The absorption edge also shifts to the lower energy side with the increasing magnetic field. The field dependence of the edge shift in weaker magnetic field was larger at the Curie temperature than it in the higher temperature region. The temperature and magnetic field dependence of the absorption edge was compared to a calculated spin correlation function in spinels with the nearest neighbour exchange interaction between localized Cr+3 ions. Other kind of exchange interaction would be required to explain the temperature dependence of the absorption edge.
