Abstract
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.
- Received 3 August 2015
- Revised 31 October 2015
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.93.024110
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