title: Evidence of a reentrant peierls distortion in liquid GeTe
abstract: The local atomic order of semiconducting liquid GeTe is studied using first-principles molecular-dynamics simulations. Our work points out a high degree of alternating chemical order in the liquid and demonstrates the presence of a Peierls distortion close above the melting temperature. This distortion, absent in the high temperature crystalline structure of NaCl type, is a remnant of the atomic arrangement in the A7 low temperature crystalline phase. It disappears slowly with temperature, as the liquid evolves from a semiconducting to a metallic state.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Physique, B5, Universite de Liege, B4000 Sart-Tilman, Belgium.
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Raty
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Godlevsky
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ghosez
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bichara
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Gaspard
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Chelikowsky