Preparation and electronic structure study of a topological crystalline insulator, SnTe

In this paper, we report preparation and characterization of high quality single crystals of a topological crystalline insulator, SnTe. Samples were prepared using modified Bridgman method and were characterized by powder diffraction, Laue diffraction and energy dispersive x-ray diffraction method. From the resistivity measurements, the temperature for the displacive phase transition is determined to be 40 K. Furthermore, core level photoemission of Sn 3s and Te 3p using photon energy of 5945.24 eV at different temperatures shows that structural transition does not have discernible effect on the studied core level spectra. We observe intense satellite features in the core level spectra suggesting importance of electron correlation in the electronic properties of this system.In this paper, we report preparation and characterization of high quality single crystals of a topological crystalline insulator, SnTe. Samples were prepared using modified Bridgman method and were characterized by powder diffraction, Laue diffraction and energy dispersive x-ray diffraction method. From the resistivity measurements, the temperature for the displacive phase transition is determined to be 40 K. Furthermore, core level photoemission of Sn 3s and Te 3p using photon energy of 5945.24 eV at different temperatures shows that structural transition does not have discernible effect on the studied core level spectra. We observe intense satellite features in the core level spectra suggesting importance of electron correlation in the electronic properties of this system.