Orthorhombic to monoclinic phase transition in NbNiTe2

Jennifer Neu, Kaya Wei, Xing He, Olivier Delaire, Ryan Baumbach, Zhenzhen Feng, Yuhao Fu, Yongsheng Zhang, David J. Singh, Theo Siegrist

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

The high-temperature structural phase transition of the potential topological material NbNiTe2 has been studied in detail. At high temperatures, the structure is centrosymmetric with orthorhombic space-group P2m2n21a(Pmna), and distorts at 373 K to a monoclinic structure with space-group P1121a(P1121/a). A small signature in specific heat and commensurate small release of entropy are observed at the phase transition. The low-temperature monoclinic structure retains its inversion center and the symmetries associated with the orthorhombic c axis. At high temperatures, NbNiTe2 shows phonon instabilities at Γ and X, which are removed by the structural phase transition. The electronic structure of NbNiTe2 is only slightly affected, indicating this ferroic phase transition is primarily due to steric effects.

Original languageEnglish
Article number144102
JournalPhysical Review B
Volume100
Issue number14
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 11 2019
Externally publishedYes

Funding

Work at the University of Missouri was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Award No. DE-SC0019978. Z.F. is grateful for support from the China Scholarship Council. X.H. and O.D. were supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Award No. DE-SC0019978. J.N. and T.S. acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation under Grant No. NSF/DMR-1606952. K.W. acknowledges support from the NHMFL through the Jack Crow Postdoctoral Fellowship. Part of the work was carried out at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, which is supported by the National Science Foundation under Award No. NSF/DMR-1644779 and the State of Florida. Special thanks to V. Glonty and J. Rathfon at Nikon for microscope imaging support. Furthermore, special thanks to T. Figgemeier, a visiting researcher at NHMFL, for his experimental advice and expertise.

FundersFunder number
Office of Basic Energy Sciences
National Science Foundation
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Science
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
China Scholarship Council

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