Evidence of a reentrant Peierls distortion in liquid GeTe

The local atomic order of semiconducting liquid GeTe is studied using first -principles molecular-dynamics simulations. Our work points out a high degr ee of alternating chemical order in the liquid and demonstrates the presenc e of a Peierls distortion close above the melting temperature. This distort ion, absent in the high temperature crystalline structure of NaCl type, is a remnant of the atomic arrangement in the A7 low temperature crystalline p hase. It disappears slowly with temperature, as the liquid evolves from a s emiconducting to a metallic state.