Anisotropic Thermal Expansion and Electronic Structure of LiInSe 2 .

Optical quality cm-sized LiInSe 2 crystals were grown using the Bridgman-Stockbarger method, starting from pure element reagents, under the conditions of a low temperature gradient of 5-6 degrees/cm and a slight melt overheating. The phase purity of the grown crystal was verified by the powder XRD analysis. The thermophysical characteristics of LiInSe 2 were determined by the XRD measurements in the temperature range of 303-703 K and strong anisotropy of the thermal expansion coefficients was established. The following values of thermal expansion coefficients were determined in LiInSe 2 : α a = 8.1 (1), α b = 16.1 (2) and α c = 5.64 (6) MK -1 . The electronic structure of LiInSe 2 was measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The band structure of LiInSe 2 was calculated by ab initio methods.