A first-principles study of strain tuned optical properties in monolayer tellurium.

First-principles calculations are employed to study the optical properties of monolayer Te tuned by biaxial strain. Our results demonstrate that monolayer Te has strong absorption in the visible and ultraviolet regions, and that a structural transition occurs between the α-phase and the β-phase under certain strain. In addition, there is significant optical anisotropy in α- and β-Te, while γ-Te shows isotropic characteristics due to their different structural properties.