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arXiv · 1806.09665

Atomic-Scale Strain Manipulation of a Charge Density Wave

Shang Gao·Felix Flicker·Raman Sankar·He Zhao·Zheng Ren·Bryan Rachmilowitz·Sidhika Balachandar·Fangcheng Chou·Kenneth Burch·Ziqiang Wang·Jasper van Wezel·Ilija Zeljkovic
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Abstract

A charge density wave (CDW) is one of the fundamental instabilities of the Fermi surface occurring in a wide range of quantum materials. In dimensions higher than one, where Fermi surface nesting can play only a limited role, the selection of the particular wave vector and geometry of an emerging CDW should in principle be susceptible to controllable manipulation. In this work, we implement a simple method for straining materials compatible with low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/S), and use it to strain-engineer new CDWs in 2H-NbSe2. Our STM/S measurements combined with theory reveal how small strain-induced changes in the electronic band structure and phonon dispersion lead to dramatic changes in the CDW ordering wave vector and geometry. Our work unveils the microscopic mechanism of a CDW formation in this system, and can serve as a general tool compatible with a range of spectroscopic techniques to engineer novel electronic states in any material where local strain or lattice symmetry breaking plays a role.

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Shang Gao, Felix Flicker, Raman Sankar, He Zhao, Zheng Ren, Bryan Rachmilowitz, Sidhika Balachandar, Fangcheng Chou, Kenneth Burch, Ziqiang Wang, Jasper van Wezel, Ilija Zeljkovic. 2018-06-25. Atomic-Scale Strain Manipulation of a Charge Density Wave. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1718931115

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