The Effect of Overdamped Phonons on the Fundamental Band Gap of Perovskites

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Zhu, Xiangzhou, Egger, David A.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Zhu, Xiangzhou
Egger, David A.
author_facet Zhu, Xiangzhou
Egger, David A.
contents Anharmonic atomic motions can strongly influence the optoelectronic properties of materials but how these effects are connected to the underlying phonon band structure is not understood well. We investigate how the electronic band gap is influenced by overdamped phonons, which occur in an intriguing regime of phonon-phonon interactions where vibrational lifetimes fall below one oscillation period. We contrast the anharmonic halide perovskite CsPbBr$_3$, known to exhibit overdamped phonons in its cubic phase, with the anharmonic oxide perovskite SrTiO$_3$ where the phonons are underdamped at sufficiently high temperatures. Our results show that overdamped phonons strongly impact the band gap and cause slow dynamic fluctuations of electronic levels that have been implicated in the unique optoelectronic properties of halide perovskites. This finding is enabled by developing augmented stochastic Monte Carlo methods accounting for phonon renormalization and imaginary modes that are typically neglected. Our work provides guidelines for capturing anharmonic effects in theoretical calculations of materials.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2406_05201
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The Effect of Overdamped Phonons on the Fundamental Band Gap of Perovskites
Zhu, Xiangzhou
Egger, David A.
Materials Science
Anharmonic atomic motions can strongly influence the optoelectronic properties of materials but how these effects are connected to the underlying phonon band structure is not understood well. We investigate how the electronic band gap is influenced by overdamped phonons, which occur in an intriguing regime of phonon-phonon interactions where vibrational lifetimes fall below one oscillation period. We contrast the anharmonic halide perovskite CsPbBr$_3$, known to exhibit overdamped phonons in its cubic phase, with the anharmonic oxide perovskite SrTiO$_3$ where the phonons are underdamped at sufficiently high temperatures. Our results show that overdamped phonons strongly impact the band gap and cause slow dynamic fluctuations of electronic levels that have been implicated in the unique optoelectronic properties of halide perovskites. This finding is enabled by developing augmented stochastic Monte Carlo methods accounting for phonon renormalization and imaginary modes that are typically neglected. Our work provides guidelines for capturing anharmonic effects in theoretical calculations of materials.
title The Effect of Overdamped Phonons on the Fundamental Band Gap of Perovskites
topic Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.05201