Lattice anharmonicity, phonon dispersion, and thermal conductivity of PbTe studied by the phonon quasiparticle approach

Abstract

We investigated the vibrational property of lead telluride (PbTe) with a focus on lattice anharmonicity at moderate temperatures $(300<T<800$ K) using the phonon quasiparticle approach which combines first-principles molecular dynamics and lattice dynamics. The calculated anharmonic phonon dispersions are strongly temperature dependent and some phonon modes adopt giant frequency shifts, e.g., transverse optical modes in the long-wavlength regime. As a result, we witness the avoided crossing between transverse optical modes and longitudinal acoustic modes at elevated temperature, in good agreement with experimentation and available theoretical studies. These results, together with the large root-mean-square displacements of atoms, reveal a strong anharmonic effect in PbTe. The obtained phonon lifetimes allow studies of transport properties. For considered temperatures, the phonon mean free paths can be shorter than lattice constants at relatively high temperature, especially for optical modes. This finding goes against the widely employed minimal phonon mean free path concept. As such, the calculated lattice thermal conductivity of PbTe, which is indeed relatively small, does not have the prescribed minima at high temperature, showcasing the breakdown of the minimal mean free path theory. Our study provides a basis for delineating vibrational and transport properties of PbTe and other thermoelectric materials within the framework of the phonon gas model.