Phonon Influence on Bulk Photovoltaic Effect in the Ferroelectric Semiconductor GeTe

Shi-Jing Gong, Fan Zheng, and Andrew M. Rappe
Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 017402 – Published 3 July 2018

Abstract

The shift current (SHC) has been accepted as the primary mechanism of the bulk photovoltaic effect (BPVE) in ferroelectrics, which is much different from the typical pn junction-based photovoltaic mechanism in heterogeneous materials. In the present work, we use first-principles calculations to investigate the SHC response in the ferroelectric semiconductor GeTe, which is found possess a large SHC response due to its intrinsic narrow band gap and high covalency. We explore the changes of SHC response induced by phonon vibrations, and analytically fit current versus vibrational amplitude to reveal the quantitative relationships between vibrations and the SHC response. Furthermore, we demonstrate the temperature dependence of the SHC response by averaging the phonon vibration influence in the Brillouin zone. Our investigation provides an explicit experimental prediction about the temperature dependence of BPVE and can be extended to other classes of noncentrosymmetric materials.

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  • Received 7 August 2017
  • Revised 3 March 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.017402

© 2018 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Shi-Jing Gong1, Fan Zheng2, and Andrew M. Rappe2,*

  • 1Key Laboratory of Polar Materials and Devices, Ministry of Education, Department of Electronic Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
  • 2Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6323, USA

  • *Corresponding author. rappe@sas.upenn.edu

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Issue

Vol. 121, Iss. 1 — 6 July 2018

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