Fermi surface nesting and charge-density wave formation in rare-earth tritellurides

Abstract

The Fermi surface of rare-earth tri-tellurides ({\it R}Te${}_3$) is investigated in terms of the nesting driven charge-density wave formation using positron annihilation and first-principles LMTO calculations. Fermi surface nesting is revealed as a strong candidate for driving charge-density wave formation in these compounds. The nesting vector obtained from positron annihilation experiments on GdTe${}_3$ is determined to be $\mathbf{q}=(0.28\pm 0.02,0,0){\mathbf{a}}^{\ast }$, (${\mathbf{a}}^{\ast }=2\pi /\mathbf{a}$), in excellent agreement with previous experimental and theoretical studies.

To appear in Phys. Rev. B