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

The Fermi surface of rare-earth tri-tellurides ( 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 q = (0 . 28 ± 0 . 02 , 0 , 0) a ∗ , ( a ∗ = 2 π/ a ), in excellent agreement with previous experimental and theoretical studies.