Journal
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 10, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09921-4
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Funding
- US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division [DE-AC05-00OR22725]
- US Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences
- DOE Office of Science [DE-AC02-06CH11357]
- DOE Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Office of Vehicle Technologies Materials program
- DARPA MATRIX program [HR0011-15-2-0039]
- National Science Foundation [ACI-1053575]
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Lead chalcogenides have exceptional thermoelectric properties and intriguing anharmonic lattice dynamics underlying their low thermal conductivities. An ideal material for thermoelectric efficiency is the phonon glass-electron crystal, which drives research on strategies to scatter or localize phonons while minimally disrupting electronic-transport. Anharmonicity can potentially do both, even in perfect crystals, and simulations suggest that PbSe is anharmonic enough to support intrinsic localized modes that halt transport. Here, we experimentally observe high-temperature localization in PbSe using neutron scattering but find that localization is not limited to isolated modes - zero group velocity develops for a significant section of the transverse optic phonon on heating above a transition in the anharmonic dynamics. Arrest of the optic phonon propagation coincides with unusual sharpening of the longitudinal acoustic mode due to a loss of phase space for scattering. Our study shows how nonlinear physics beyond conventional anharmonic perturbations can fundamentally alter vibrational transport properties.
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