Abstract
Elastic neutron scattering on a single crystal combined with powder X-ray diffraction measurements were carried out to investigate how the crystal structure evolves as a function of temperature in the Weyl semimetal WTe2. A sharp transition from the low-temperature orthorhombic phase (Td) to the high-temperature monoclinic phase (1T′) was observed at ambient pressure in the single crystal near ∼565 K. Unlike in MoTe2, the solid-solid transition from Td to 1T′ occurs without the cell doubling of the intermediate Td∗ phase with AABB (or ABBA) layer stacking. In powders, however, the thermal transition from the Td to the 1T′ phase was broadened and a two-phase coexistence was observed until 700 K, well above the structural transition.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 060103 |
| Journal | Physical Review B |
| Volume | 102 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 1 2020 |
Funding
This work has been supported by the Department of Energy, Grant No. DE-FG02-01ER45927. A portion of this research used resources at the High Flux Isotope Reactor, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. We acknowledge utilization of the FEI Quanta LV200 Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope instrument within UVa's Nanoscale Materials Characterization Facility (NMCF), as well as the assistance of Richard White for equipment training and analysis of the data.