1T'-TaTe2 exhibits an intriguing first-order structural phase transition at around 170 K. Understanding the electronic structural properties is a crucial way to comprehend the origin of the structural phase transition. We performed a combined optical and ultrafast pump-probe study on the compound across the transition temperature. The phase transition leads to abrupt changes of both optical spectra and ultrafast electronic relaxation dynamics. The measurements revealed a sudden reconstruction of band structure. We elaborate that the phase transition is of the first order and can not be attributed to the conventional density-wave type instability. Our work is illuminating for understanding the origin of the structural phase transition.
@article{arxiv.2110.15746,
title = {Optical spectroscopy and ultrafast pump-probe study of structural phase transition in 1T'-TaTe2},
author = {T. C. Hu and Q. Wu and Z. X. Wang and L. Y. Shi and Q. M. Liu and L. Yue and S. J. Zhang and R. S. Li and X. Y. Zhou and S. X. Xu and D. Wu and T. Dong and N. L. Wang},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2110.15746},
year = {2022}
}