Wang, W;
Wu, L;
Li, J;
Aryal, N;
Jin, X;
Liu, Y;
Fedurin, M;
... Zhu, Y; + view all
(2021)
Photoinduced anisotropic lattice dynamic response and domain formation in thermoelectric SnSe.
npj Quantum Materials
, 6
(1)
, Article 97. 10.1038/s41535-021-00400-y.
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Abstract
Identifying and understanding the mechanisms behind strong phonon–phonon scattering in condensed matter systems is critical to maximizing the efficiency of thermoelectric devices. To date, the leading method to address this has been to meticulously survey the full phonon dispersion of the material in order to isolate modes with anomalously large linewidth and temperature-dependence. Here we combine quantitative MeV ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) analysis with Monte Carlo based dynamic diffraction simulation and first-principles calculations to directly unveil the soft, anharmonic lattice distortions of model thermoelectric material SnSe. A small single-crystal sample is photoexcited with ultrafast optical pulses and the soft, anharmonic lattice distortions are isolated using MeV-UED as those associated with long relaxation time and large displacements. We reveal that these modes have interlayer shear strain character, induced mainly by c-axis atomic displacements, resulting in domain formation in the transient state. These findings provide an innovative approach to identify mechanisms for ultralow and anisotropic thermal conductivity and a promising route to optimizing thermoelectric devices.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Photoinduced anisotropic lattice dynamic response and domain formation in thermoelectric SnSe |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s41535-021-00400-y |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-021-00400-y |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Science & Technology, Technology, Physical Sciences, Materials Science, Multidisciplinary, Quantum Science & Technology, Physics, Applied, Physics, Condensed Matter, Materials Science, Physics, THERMAL-CONDUCTIVITY, PERFORMANCE, BEHAVIOR, POWER |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > London Centre for Nanotechnology |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10140048 |
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