title: Sb₂Se₃ under pressure.
abstract: Selected members of the A₂B₃ (A = Sb, Bi; B = Se, Te) family are topological insulators. The Sb₂Se₃ compound does not exhibit any topological properties at ambient conditions; a recent high-pressure study, however, indicated that pressure transforms Sb₂Se₃ from a band insulator into a topological insulator above ~2 GPa; in addition, three structural transitions were proposed to occur up to 25 GPa. Partly motivated by these results, we have performed x-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy investigations on Sb₂Se₃ under pressure up to 65 GPa. We have identified only one reversible structural transition: the initial Pnma structure transforms into a disordered cubic bcc alloy above 51 GPa. On the other hand, our high-pressure Raman study did not reproduce the previous results; we attribute the discrepancies to the effects of the different pressure transmitting media used in the high-pressure experiments. We discuss the structural behavior of Sb₂Se₃ within the A₂B₃ (A = Sb, Bi; B = Se, Te) series.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, 48309.
authors.forename: Ilias
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Efthimiopoulos
authors.forename: Jiaming
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Melvin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kucway
authors.forename: Changyong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Rodney C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Ewing
authors.forename: Yuejian
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
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