LEAD-CHALCOGENIDES UNDER PRESSURE: AB-INITIO STUDY

ab-initio calculations using fully relativistic pseudo-potential have been performed to investigate the high pressure phase transition, elastic and electronic properties of lead-chalcogenides including the less known lead polonium. The calculated ground state parameters, for the rock-salt structure show good agreement with the experimental data. The enthalpy calculations show that these materials undergo a first-order phase transition from rock-salt to CsCl structure at 19.4, 15.5, 11.5 and 7.3 GPa for PbS, PbSe, PbTe and PbPo, respectively. Present calculations successfully predicted the location of the band gap at L-point of Brillouin zone as well as the value of the band gap in every case at ambient pressure. It is observed that unlike other lead-chalcogenides, PbPo is semi-metal at ambient pressure. The pressure variation of the energy gap indicates that these materials metalized under high pressures. For this purpose, the electronic structure of these materials has also been computed in parent as well as in high pressure phase.