High-pressure x-ray-absorption study of GaSe

The III-VI layered semiconductor InSe has been studied by high-pressure single crystal x-ray absorption spectroscopy up to a maximum pressure of 14 GPa. The In-Se distance has been measured in both the low- pressure layered phase and the high-pressure NaCl phase. The bond compressibility in the layered phase is lower than the ``a'' crystallographic parameter compressibility, which implies an increase of the angle between the In-Se bond and the layer plane. Under plausible hypothesis, a description of the evolution of the whole structure with pressure is given. In particular, the intralayer distance is observed to increase with increasing pressure. A plausible precursor defect and a simple m…

Semiconductor-metal transitions in liquidIn100−xSexalloys: A concentration-induced transition

The electronic and structural properties of ${\mathrm{In}}_{100\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Se}}_{x}$ liquid alloys close to their melting points have been investigated by combining x-ray-absorption experiments with ab initio molecular-dynamics simulations. Extended x-ray-absorption fine-structure data have been acquired at both the In and Se K edges in a large concentration range $(x=20%$ to $x=50%$ of Se content). Ab initio molecular-dynamics simulations have been carried out at the two most extreme concentrations explored experimentally. Liquid InSe is found to retain a semiconducting behavior which results from a low-dimensional structure, reminiscent of that of the ambient solid phase, cha…

High pressure EXAFS on GaTe single crystal including polarization

High pressure–high temperature phase diagram of InSe

By combining X-ray diffraction and X-ray absorption spectroscopy, the structural evolution of the InSe alloy has been explored up to 3.3 GPa and 1500 K with the use of the Paris–Edinburgh large volume cell. These conditions allowed us to study the solid and the liquid states and to measure the pressure evolution of the melting point, which increases at a rate of +120 K GPa−1. A temperature‐induced phase transition has been evidenced within the solid phase. This is the first in-situ study of the high temperature solid phase which had so far only been inferred from studies on recovered samples at ambient conditions.

High-pressure x-ray absorption study of GaTe including polarization

The evolution of the local structure in GaTe under pressure is studied by x-ray absorption spectroscopy experiments at the Ga K-edge (10.368 keV) on oriented single crystals. Taking advantage of the linearly polarized character of synchrotron radiation, the pressure evolution of both the Ga-Te and the in-plane Ga-Ga bond lengths could be determined, in spite of the small amplitude of the latter. Our measurements show that both distances are much less compressible than what could be inferred from the bulk compressibility, which evidences a strong variation of Ga-Ga-Te and Te-Ga-Te angles under pressure. The Te-Te intralayer distance perpendicular to the layers is observed to increase with in…

Specific features of the electronic structure of III–VI layered semiconductors: recent results on structural and optical measurements under pressure and electronic structure calculations

In this paper we review some recent results on the electronic structure of III-VI layered semiconductors and its dependence under pressure, stressing the specific features that differentiate their behaviour from that of tetrahedrally coordinated semiconductors. We will focus on several unexpected results that have led to changes in the image that was currently accepted a few years ago. Intralayer bond angles change under pressure and the layer thickness remains virtually constant or increases. As a consequence, models based in intra- and inter-layer deformation potentials fail in explaining the low pressure nonlinearity of the band gap. Numerical-atomic-orbital/density-functional-theory ele…

Local disorder studied inSrTiO3at low temperature by EXAFS spectroscopy

The temperature dependence of the local distortions in ${\mathrm{SrTiO}}_{3}$ has been studied by EXAFS spectroscopy at the titanium K edge (4982 eV). The oxygen-ion Debye-Waller factor ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\sigma}}}_{0}^{2}$ has been determined from 4.5 to 240 K. The antiferrodistortive transition at 105 K is evidenced by a step in this Debye-Waller factor. At about 31 K, a maximum of ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\sigma}}}_{0}^{2}$ is detected and the EXAFS oscillations due to the first oxygen shell increase. This is the signature of a maximum disorder in the lattice vibrations in this temperature range. A quasiharmonic model with a sinusoidal modulation of the Ti-O distance cannot account for t…