Relationship between Peierls distortion and medium-range order in Liquid Group-V elements and liquid Group-IV-VI compounds

Abstract

We have done energy-dispersive x-ray diffraction for liquid As, Sb, GeS, GeSe, GeTe, and found that there is a relationship between medium-range order (MRO) and the Peierls distortion (or charge-density-wave structure) in these liquids. The prepeak disappears when the Peierls distortion is suppressed. In this paper we explain the relationship between MRO and Peierls distortion in liquids by a tentative assumption that the prepeak could be a remnant of satellite peaks in the Peierls-distorted crystals. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd.