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Interatomic forces that bind materials are largely determined by an often complex interplay between the electronic band-structure and the atomic arrangements to form its equilibrium structure and dynamics. As these forces also determine the phonon dispersion, lattice dynamics measurements are often crucial tools for understanding how materials transform between different structures. This is the case for the mono-chalcogenides which feature a number of lattice instabilities associated with their network of resonant bonds and a large tunability in their functional properties. SnSe hosts a novel lattice instability upon above-bandgap photoexcitation that is distinct from the distortions associated with its high temperature phase transition, demonstrating that photoexcitation can alter the interatomic forces significantly different than thermal excitation. Here we report decisive time-resolved X-ray scattering-based measurements of the nonequlibrium lattice dynamics in SnSe. By fitting interatomic force models to the excited-state dispersion, we determine this instability as being primarily due to changes in the fourth-nearest neighbor bonds that connect bilayers, with relatively little change to the intralayer resonant bonds. In addition to providing critical insight into the nonthermal bonding origin of the instability in SnSe, such measurements will be crucial for understanding and controlling materials properties under non-equilibrium conditions.

There has been growing interest in using ultrafast light pulses to drive materials into nonequilibrium states with novel properties. Using time-resolved X ray scattering, I demonstrated that SnSe, one of the IV-VI resonantly bonded compounds, hosts a novel photo-induced lattice instability associated with an orthorhombic distortion of the rock-salt structure with space group Immm [1]. The new lattice instability is accompanied by a drastic softening of the lowest-frequency Ag phonon (TO phonon), which has previously been identified as the soft mode in the thermally driven phase transition to a Cmcm structure. Therefore, we provide a counterexample of the conventional wisdom that laser pump pulse serves as a heat dump. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the photoinduced Immm lattice instability arises from electron excitation from the Se 4p- and Sn 5s-derived bands (the lone pair orbitals) deep below the Fermi level that cannot be excited thermally. Furthermore, I show results of non-zone-center measurements of time-resolved X-ray scattering, from which I extracted interatomic force constants in the photoexcited states. and identify a certain bond that is largely overlapped with the lone pair orbital as responsible for the observed photoinduced lattice instability. The conclusion is in contrary to the consensus that in thermal equilibrium, the resonant bonding network of chalcogen p orbitals is the main origin for lattice instability and a soft TO mode. And indeed, the photoexcited phonon modes have a significantly longer lifetime, which means less anharmonicity of the lattice, than those in thermal equilibrium, consistent with the observation that interatomic interaction driving the photoinduced lattice instability is different from the thermal. The results have implications for optical control of the functional properties of monochalcogenides and other resonantly bonded materials. More generally, the results emphasize the importance ultrafast structural probes that reveal distinct atomic-scale dynamics too subtle for conventional spectroscopies. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences through the Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering under Contract No. DE-AC02- 76SF00515. [1] Y. Huang et al., Phys. Rev. X, 12, 011029 (2021)

Cu2Se and Cu2S are excellent model systems of superionic conductors with large diffusion coefficients that have been reported to exhibit different solid-liquid-like Cu-ion diffusion. In this paper, we clarify the atomic dynamics of these compounds with temperature-dependent ab-initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations and inelastic neutron scattering (INS) experiments. Using the dynamical structure factor and Van-Hove correlation function, we interrogate the jump-time, hopping length distribution and associated diffusion coefficients. In cubic-Cu2Se at 500 K, we find solid-like diffusion with Cu-jump lengths matching well the first-neighbour Cu-Cu distance of ~3 {\AA} in the crystal, and clearly defined optic phonons involving Cu-vibrations. Above 700 K, the jump-length distribution becomes a broad maximum cantered around 4 {\AA}, spanning the first and second neighbour lattice distances, and a concurrent broadening of the Cu-phonon density of states. Further, above 900 K, the Cu-diffusion becomes close to liquid-like, with distributions of Cu-atoms continuously connecting crystal sites, while the vibrational modes involving Cu motions are highly damped, though still not fully over-damped as in a liquid. At low temperatures, the solid-like diffusion is consistent with previous X-ray diffraction and quasielastic neutron scattering experiments, while the higher-temperature observation of the liquid-like diffusion is in agreement with previous AIMD simulations. We also report AIMD simulations in Cu2S in the hexagonal and cubic superionic phases, and observe similar solid and liquid-like diffusion at low- and high-temperatures, respectively. The calculated ionic-conductivity is in fair agreement with reported experimental values., Comment: 29 Pages, 7 Figures

Metal halides perovskites (MHPs) are attracting considerable interest for optoelectronic applications, with Cs$_2$AgBiBr$_6$ one of the main contenders among lead-free systems. Cs$_2$AgBiBr$_6$ crystallizes in a nominally double-perovskite structure, but exhibits a soft lattice with large atomic fluctuations characteristic of MHPs. While crucial to understand electron-phonon and phonon-phonon couplings, the spatio-temporal correlations of these fluctuations remain largely unknown. Here, we reveal these correlations using comprehensive neutron and x-ray scattering measurements on Cs$_2$AgBiBr$_6$ single-crystals, complemented with first-principles simulations augmented with machine-learned neural-network potentials. We report the discovery of an unexpected complex modulated ground state structure containing several hundred atoms, arising from a soft-phonon instability of the low-temperature tetragonal phase. Further, our experiments and simulations both reveal extensive correlated 2D fluctuations of Br octahedra at finite temperature, arising from soft anharmonic optic phonons, reflecting very shallow potential wells. These results provide new insights into the atomic structure and fluctuations in MHPs, critical to understand and control their thermal and optoelectronic properties., 12 pages, 4 figures

Time-resolved x-ray scattering can be used to investigate the dynamics of materials during the switch from one structural phase to another. So far, methods provide an ensemble average and may miss crucial aspects of the detailed mechanisms at play. Wall et al. used a total-scattering technique to probe the dynamics of the ultrafast insulator-to-metal transition of vanadium dioxide (VO2) (see the Perspective by Cavalleri). Femtosecond x-ray pulses provide access to the time- and momentum-resolved dynamics of the structural transition. Their results show that the photoinduced transition is of the order-disorder type, driven by an ultrafast change in the lattice potential that suddenly unlocks the vanadium atoms and yields large-amplitude uncorrelated motions, rather than occurring through a coherent displacive mechanism.

© 2017 American Physical Society. Strongly anharmonic phonon properties of CuCl are investigated with inelastic neutron-scattering measurements and first-principles simulations. An unusual quasiparticle spectral peak emerges in the phonon density of states with increasing temperature, in both simulations and measurements, emanating from exceptionally strong coupling between conventional phonon modes. Associated with this strong anharmonicity, the lattice thermal conductivity of CuCl is extremely low and exhibits anomalous, nonmonotonic pressure dependence. We show how this behavior arises from the structure of the phonon dispersions augmenting the phase space available for anharmonic three-phonon scattering processes, and contrast this mechanism with common arguments based on negative Grüneisen parameters. These results demonstrate the importance of considering intrinsic phonon-dispersion structure toward understanding scattering processes and designing new ultralow thermal conductivity materials.

Intriguing lattice dynamics has been predicted for aperiodic crystals that contain incommensurate substructures. Here we report inelastic neutron scattering measurements of phonon and magnon dispersions in Sr14Cu24O41, which contains incommensurate one-dimensional (1D) chain and two-dimensional (2D) ladder substructures. Two distinct pseudoacoustic phonon modes, corresponding to the sliding motion of one sublattice against the other, are observed for atomic motions polarized along the incommensurate axis. In the long wavelength limit, it is found that the sliding mode shows a remarkably small energy gap of 1.7-1.9 meV, indicating very weak interactions between the two incommensurate sublattices. The measurements also reveal a gapped and steep linear magnon dispersion of the ladder sublattice. The high group velocity of this magnon branch and weak coupling with acoustic and pseudoacoustic phonons can explain the large magnon thermal conductivity in Sr14Cu24O41 crystals. In addition, the magnon specific heat is determined from the measured total specific heat and phonon density of states, and exhibits a Schottky anomaly due to gapped magnon modes of the spin chains. These findings offer new insights into the phonon and magnon dynamics and thermal transport properties of incommensurate magnetic crystals that contain low-dimensional substructures.

The binary compound SnSe exhibits record high thermoelectric performance, largely because of its very low thermal conductivity. The origin of the strong phonon anharmonicity leading to the low thermal conductivity of SnSe is investigated through first-principles calculations of the electronic structure and phonons. It is shown that a Jahn-Teller instability of the electronic structure is responsible for the high-temperature lattice distortion between the Cmcm and Pnma phases. The coupling of phonon modes and the phase transition mechanism are elucidated, emphasizing the connection with hybrid improper ferroelectrics. This coupled instability of electronic orbitals and lattice dynamics is the origin of the strong anharmonicity causing the ultralow thermal conductivity in SnSe. Exploiting such bonding instabilities to generate strong anharmonicity may provide a new rational to design efficient thermoelectric materials.

Phonon properties of $\mathrm{Mo_3Sb_{7-x}Te_x}$ ($x=0,1.5, 1.7$), a potential high-temperature thermoelectric material, have been studied with inelastic neutron and x-ray scattering, and with first-principles simulations. The substitution of Te for Sb leads to pronounced changes in the electronic structure, local bonding, phonon density of states (DOS), dispersions, and phonon lifetimes. Alloying with tellurium shifts the Fermi level upward, near the top of the valence band, resulting in a strong suppression of electron-phonon screening, and a large overall stiffening of interatomic force-constants. The suppression in electron-phonon coupling concomitantly increases group velocities and suppresses phonon scattering rates, surpassing the effects of alloy-disorder scattering, and resulting in a surprising increased lattice thermal conductivity in the alloy. We also identify that the local bonding environment changes non-uniformly around different atoms, leading to variable perturbation strengths for different optical phonon branches. The respective roles of changes in phonon group velocities and phonon lifetimes on the lattice thermal conductivity are quantified. Our results highlight the importance of the electron-phonon coupling on phonon mean-free-paths in this compound, and also estimates the contributions from boundary scattering, umklapp scattering, and point-defect scattering., 16 pages, 13 figures

For a fixed configuration of ions on a given crystalline lattice, low energy excitations around the static average configuration can be thermally activated and will contribute to the entropy of the system. As such, phonons, spin-waves or electronic excitations have their own entropic contribution. This thesis investigates the entropic effects of lattice vibrations in transition metal alloys, both from experimental and computational points of view. Using inelastic neutron scattering, it is shown that a few percent of substitutional impurities from the transition metal series strongly affect the phonon density of states (DOS) of pure vanadium. Alloying with 6% Pt solutes produces a strong stiffening of the phonon DOS, inducing a large and negative vibrational entropy of mixing, which overcomes the increase in configurational entropy. A systematic study of chemical trends for different transition metal impurities was conducted. A previously unknown correlation is established between the vibrational entropy of alloying and the difference in electronegativity of the solute and the host. Density-functional theory calculations were conducted and confirmed the occurrence of systematic charge-transfers correlating with the electronegativity, which affect the interatomic force-constants and the phonons. The effect of impurities on the anomalous temperature-dependence of phonons in vanadium is investigated. It is found that the solutes which affect the phonon density of states most strongly at room temperature also suppress the anomalous temperature behavior. Electron-phonon and phonon-phonon couplings are examined as potential sources of this effect, through a careful accounting of their contributions to the heat capacity, based on inelastic neutron scattering experiments, calorimetry measurements and electronic structure calculations. Finally, the changes in the phonon DOS and the vibrational entropy across the low-temperature martensitic phase transformation in Fe71Ni29 are investigated. The respective contributions of the phonons and magnetism to the entropy of the direct and reverse transformation are evaluated from neutron scattering and differential scanning calorimetry measurements. A significant magnetic entropy is found in the reverse transformation, which is not present in the direct transformation. This result stresses the necessity to account for the respective contributions of all microscopic degrees of freedom in evaluating entropy changes in solid-solid phase transitions.