Title:Oral: Polarons in the thermoelectric compound SnSe*

A charge carrier propagating through ionic crystals induces lattice distortions via electron-phonon interaction and forms a localized quasiparticle, which is dubbed polaron. Recent ultrafast electron diffraction (UES) experiment [PNAS 119.3 (2022): e2113967119] observed both large and small polarons in the thermoelectric material SnSe, and identified the timescales for the formation of these quasiparticles. In this work, we investigate polarons in SnSe using a first-principles approach, based on a recently-developed methodology [PRB 99, 235139 (2019)]. We elucidate the driving force for the formation of polarons in this compound, and make contact with experimental data.