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We performed an angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy study of Si-doped $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$. We observed very small photoemission intensity near the Fermi level corresponding to non-dispersive states assigned to Si impurities. We show evidence for a quantization of these states that is accompanied by a confinement in the momentum space consistent with a real-space finite confinement observed in a previous scanning tunneling microscopy study. Our results suggest that this semi-localization in the conjugate spaces plays a crucial role in the electronic conduction of this material., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Copyright (2012) American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. The following article appeared in Applied Physics Letters and may be found at http://apl.aip.org/resource/1/applab/v101/i23/p232105_s1

Rietveld profiles, Moessbauer spectra and x-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) were analyzed through the structural phase transition at Ts = 355 K in HoBaCo4O7. Excess of the oxygen content over O7 was avoided via annealing the samples in argon flow at 600 degree C. Space groups (S.G.) Pbn21c and P63mc were used to refine the structure parameters in the low- and high-temperature phases, respectively. Additionally, the Cmc21 symmetry was considered as a concurrent model of structure of the low-temperature phase. In the high-temperature phase, severe anisotropy of thermal motion of the major part of the oxygen atoms was observed. This anisotropic motion turns to be quenched as the sample is cooled below Ts. The variation of quadrupole splitting near Ts is not similar to a steplike anomaly frequently seen at the charge-ordering transition. We observe instead a dip-like anomaly of the average quadrupole splitting near Ts. Narrow distribution of the electric field gradient (EFG) over different cobalt sites is observed and explained on the basis of point-charge model. XAFS spectra show no evidence of significant difference between YBaCo4O7 (T > Ts) and HoBaCo4O7 (T < Ts). The origin of the transition at Ts is ascribed to the condensation of the libration phonon mode associated with the rigid-body rotational movements of the starlike tetrahedral units, the building blocks of kagome network. It is shown that the condensation of the libration mode is not compatible with translation symmetry for the hexagonal S.G., but compatible for the orthorhombic S.G. The orthorhombic lattice parameters and EFG components (Vxx, Vyy, Vzz) vary smoothly with temperature at approaching Ts and closely follow each other., Comment: 13 figures