Thermopower of lead chalcogenides at high pressures

Abstract

Thermopower measurements on PbX crystals (X=Te, Se, S) at high hydrostatic pressures of up to 35 GPa are reported. New data were obtained on the magnitude and on the pressure dependence of the thermopower of high-pressure semiconducting and metallic phases. The phase transitions occurring in PbX are treated in terms of a model in which the transition to an insulator electronic spectrum is caused by the Peierls lattice distortion.