by mixing a stoichiometric ratio of high purity Pb granules (99.999%,
Alfa Aesar) and S powder (99.999%, Alfa Aesar) in a vacuum-sealed
quartz ampoule, followed by reacting them at 1373 K to produce a high-purity
PbS starting material. Polycrystalline ingots of Pb1–xNaxSe0.35S0.1Te0.55 with x = 0.01, 0.02,
0.03, and 0.035 were prepared by mixing appropriate quantities of
the PbS precursor, Pb, Se granules (99.999%, Alfa Aesar), Te powder
(99.999%, Alfa Aesar), and crushed Na chunks (99%, Aldrich) as the
dopant, with a total mass of 10 g for each sample, loaded into carbon-coated
quartz ampoules. The ampoules were sealed under vacuum, then heated
to 1373 K, and held at the same temperature for 10 h. The ampoules
were then quenched in cold water and annealed at 823 K for 72 h.