Infrared- and Raman-Spectroscopy Measurements of a Transition in the Crystal Structure and a Closing of the Energy Gap of BiTeI under Pressure

Tran, Michaël; Levallois, Julien; Lerch, Philippe; Teyssier, J.; Kuzmenko, A. B.; Autès, G.; Yazyev, Oleg V.; Ubaldini, Alberto; Giannini, E.; Marel, D. van der; Akrap, Ana

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.112.047402

Cited by 76 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…It can be observed that the initial rhombohedral structure is stable up to 7 GPa, where a first-order phase transition can be unambiguously identified by the appearance of new Bragg peaks and the disappearance of other features. The phase transition pressure is similar to that reported for BiTeI [14][15][16]18]. The onset of the phase transition is placed at 7 GPa but the initial and high-pressure phases coexist up to at least 12 GPa.…”

Section: B Xrd Measurements In Compressed Bitebrsupporting

confidence: 83%

“…This makes a difference in relation to the discussed observation of the pressure-induced TQPT in BiTeI [13,14,16,18]. In this respect, the closure of the band gap is likely to occur in BiTeI above 3.0 GPa, while in BiTeBr it should not occur below 6 GPa; i.e., very close to the pressure for the transition to the high-pressure phase.…”

Section: Transport Measurements Under Pressurementioning

confidence: 89%

“…In particular, a pressureinduced topological quantum phase transition (TQPT) has been claimed to occur in BiTeI on the basis of infrared data and density functional theory (DFT) calculations [13][14][15] which was subsequently questioned [16] on the basis of more infrared data and improved GW band structure calculations [17]. * Corresponding author: juasant2@upvnet.upv.es Furthermore, several pressure-induced phase transitions have been discovered in BiTeI, the properties of which have not been studied in detail [14][15][16]18]. Additionally, BiTeCl has been recently found to become superconducting at high pressures [19], but whether it is the first topological superconductor ever observed is still under discussion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Structural, vibrational, and electrical study of compressed BiTeBr

et al. 2016

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Compresed BiTeBr has been studied from a joint experimental and theoretical perspective. Room-temperature x-ray diffraction, Raman scattering, and transport measurements at high pressures have been performed in this layered semiconductor and interpreted with the help of ab initio calculations. A reversible first-order phase transition has been observed above 6-7 GPa, but changes in structural, vibrational, and electrical properties have also been noted near 2 GPa. Structural and vibrational changes are likely due to the hardening of interlayer forces rather than to a second-order isostructural phase transition while electrical changes are mainly attributed to changes in the electron mobility. The possibility of a pressure-induced electronic topological transition and of a pressure-induced quantum topological phase transition in BiTeBr and other bismuth tellurohalides, like BiTeI, is also discussed.

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Section: B Xrd Measurements In Compressed Bitebrsupporting

confidence: 83%

Section: Transport Measurements Under Pressurementioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Structural, vibrational, and electrical study of compressed BiTeBr

et al. 2016

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“…The transition is accompanied by the band-gap closing and re-opening, and the band inversion between the bands mentioned above occurs at higher pressures. Since the publication of Bahramy et al, the X-ray diffraction, the spectroscopy, and the band calculation were performed on BiTeI to investigate the topological phase transition [6][7][8]. These experiments suggested that a minimum ratio of lattice constants, c/a, makes a significant contribution to the topological transition; the free-carrier spectral weight shows a maximum and the band-gap closes when the c/a has a minimum.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of topological phase transition in BiTeBr under high pressure

Ohmura

Higuchi

Ochiai

et al. 2017

J. Phys.: Conf. Ser.

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Abstract. The polar semiconductor BiTeBr has the P3m1 symmetry, similar to that of BiTeI, in which a pressure-induced topological phase transition from a trivial semiconductor to a topological insulator has been theoretically predicted. To investigate the topological phase transition in BiTeBr, we performed X-ray diffraction and electrical resistivity measurement under high pressure, and the band calculation using experimental structural parameters. The P3m1 structure is stable up to the pressure of~7 GPa; the ratio of lattice constants (c/a) reaches a minimum at around 3 GPa. Furthermore, the following phenomena are observed at around this pressure; 1) the band-gap energy closes and reopens with pressure, 2) the temperature dependence of resistivity changes from metallic to semiconducting. From theoretical prediction in BiTeI, the topological phase transition is accompanied by the band gap closing/reopening. Therefore, the results obtained in BiTeBr suggest that the topological phase transition occurs at around 3 GPa.

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“…In experiments of x-ray powder diffraction and infrared spectroscopy, the lattice parameter ratio c/a shows a minimum between 2.0 and 2.9 GPa and the infrared spectra reveal a maximum in optical spectral weight of the charge carriers [29], though there was no clear evidence in the other infrared study under pressure [30]. Another report on an x-ray diffraction experiment estimated a topological transition point near 4.5 GPa [31].…”

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Pressure variation of Rashba spin splitting toward topological transition in the polar semiconductor BiTeI

et al. 2014

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BiTeI is a polar semiconductor with gigantic Rashba spin-split bands in bulk. We have investigated the effect of pressure on the electronic structure of this material via magnetotransport. Periods of Shubunikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations originating from the spin-split outer Fermi surface and inner Fermi surface show disparate responses to pressure, while the carrier number derived from the Hall effect is unchanged with pressure. The associated parameters which characterize the spin-split band structure are strongly dependent on pressure, reflecting the pressure-induced band deformation. We find the SdH oscillations and transport response are consistent with the theoretically proposed pressure-induced band deformation leading to a topological phase transition. Our analysis suggests the critical pressure for the quantum phase transition near P c = 3.5 GPa. The spin-orbit interaction (SOI) plays a central role in determining the behavior of electrons in solids. In addition to the SOI-related subjects of spintronics, such as generation, manipulation, and detection of spin information, there has recently been an intense focus on the effect of the SOI on the electronic band structure itself. In particular, an extremely large SOI in small gap semiconductors has been shown theoretically [1][2][3][4] and experimentally [5][6][7] to give rise to a new exotic state of matter known as the topological insulator (TI). As probed by numerous experiments including angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) [6,7] and magnetotransport [8][9][10][11][12], this bulk insulating phase hosts metallic surface states composed of spin-polarized Dirac fermions, attracting both fundamental and technological interest [13,14].The spin texture in the momentum space of the TI surface state is analogous to a Rashba-type spin structure [15]. A Rashba-type structure can be expected in a system with broken inversion symmetry so that electrons are subject to an effective SOI driven k-dependent Zeeman field perpendicular to both the polar axis and crystal momentum [15]. This effect in TIs and other Rashba-type materials lifts spin degeneracy in the Fermi surface, resulting in a chiral spin texture. Historically, this effect has been studied in surface [16][17][18] and interface [19] systems and more recently for the surface of TIs [20], where such a breaking of inversion symmetry naturally arises. More recently, a bulk (three-dimensional) polar semiconductor BiTeI has been shown to host a large Rashba-type spin-split bulk band structure [21]. Similar to the case of TIs, ARPES [21][22][23][24] and magnetotransport [25][26][27] have identified several salient features that point to the unique role of SOI in the electronic properties of these materials. It is widely expected that more exotic phases may exist also at the nexus of such bulk polar materials.It was recently predicted by first-principles calculations that BiTeI shows a topological transition under pressure [28]. Figure 1 shows the evolution of the band structure of BiTeI with the app...

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Infrared- and Raman-Spectroscopy Measurements of a Transition in the Crystal Structure and a Closing of the Energy Gap of BiTeI under Pressure

Cited by 76 publications

References 24 publications

Structural, vibrational, and electrical study of compressed BiTeBr

Structural, vibrational, and electrical study of compressed BiTeBr

Investigation of topological phase transition in BiTeBr under high pressure

Pressure variation of Rashba spin splitting toward topological transition in the polar semiconductor BiTeI

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