Journal
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
Volume 111, Issue 15, Pages -Publisher
AMER PHYSICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.155701
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Funding
- U.S. Department of Energy at BNL [DE-AC02-98CH10886]
- NSF (COMPRES) [DMR-0805056, EAR 06-49658]
- DOE/NNSA (CDAC) [DE-FC03-03N00144]
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We report the observation of two signatures of a pressure-induced topological quantum phase transition in the polar semiconductor BiTeI using x-ray powder diffraction and infrared spectroscopy. The x-ray data confirm that BiTeI remains in its ambient-pressure structure up to 8 GPa. The lattice parameter ratio c/a shows a minimum between 2.0-2.9 GPa, indicating an enhanced c-axis bonding through p(z) band crossing as expected during the transition. Over the same pressure range, the infrared spectra reveal a maximum in the optical spectral weight of the charge carriers, reflecting the closing and reopening of the semiconducting band gap. Both of these features are characteristics of a topological quantum phase transition and are consistent with a recent theoretical proposal.
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