Changes of Fermi surface topology due to the rhombohedral distortion in SnTe
Abstract
Stoichiometric SnTe is theoretically a small gap semiconductor that undergoes a ferroelectric distortion on cooling. In reality however, crystals are always non-stoichiometric and metallic; the ferroelectric transition is therefore more accurately described as a polar structural transition. Here we study the Fermi surface using quantum oscillations as a function of pressure. We find the oscillation spectrum changes at high pressure, due to the suppression of the polar transition and less than 10 kbar is sufficient to stabilize the undistorted cubic lattice. This is accompanied by a large decrease in the Hall and electrical resistivity. Combined with our density functional theory (DFT) calculations and angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) measurements this suggests the Fermi surface $L$-pockets have lower mobility than the tubular Fermi surfaces that connect them. Also captured in our DFT calculations is a small widening of the band gap and shift in density of states for the polar phase. Additionally we find the unusual phenomenon of a linear magnetoresistance that exists irrespective of the distortion that we attribute to regions of the Fermi surface with high curvature.
Citation
O'Neill , C D , Clark , O J , Keen , H D J , Mazzola , F , Marković , I , Sokolov , D A , Malekos , A , King , P D C , Hermann , A & Huxley , A D 2020 , ' Changes of Fermi surface topology due to the rhombohedral distortion in SnTe ' , Physical Review. B, Condensed matter and materials physics .
Publication
Physical Review. B, Condensed matter and materials physics
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1098-0121Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2020 American Physical Society. This work has been made available online in accordance with publisher policies or with permission. Permission for further reuse of this content should be sought from the publisher or the rights holder. This is the author created accepted manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://journals.aps.org/prb/accepted/14072O8dH5012c4ef0c0424743fa3d22384c0772a
Description
Funding: UK EPSRC grants EP/P013686/1 and EP/R013004/1 (CDON and ADH) and the Royal Society (PDCK) and the Leverhulme Trust (PDCK and FM). We also acknowledge PhD studentship support from ES-PRC EP/L015110/1 (HDJK) and EP/K503162/1 (OJC) and via the International Max-Planck Research School for Chemistry and Physics of Quantum Materials (IM).Collections
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