Exotic Surface Stripe Orders in Correlated Kagome Metal CsCr3Sb5

Abstract

The newly discovered kagome superconductor CsCr3Sb5 exhibits distinct features with flat bands and unique magnetism, providing a compelling platform for exploring novel quantum states of correlated electron systems. Emergent charge order in this material is a key for understanding unconventional superconductivity, but it remains unexplored at the atomic scale and the underlying physics is elusive. Here, we identify and unreported stripe orders on the surface which are distinct from the bulk and investigate the underlying bulk electronic properties using a combination of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Specifically, a mixture of 2a0 * a0 and 3a0 * a0 stripe order is found on Cs-terminated surface while 4a0 * root3a0 stripe order is found on the Sb-terminated surface. The electronic spectra exhibit strongly correlated features resembling that of high temperature superconductors, with kagome flat bands lying about 330 meV above EF, suggesting that the electron correlations arise from Coulomb interactions and Hund's coupling. Moreover, a distinct electron-boson coupling mode is observed at approximately 100 meV. These findings provide new insights into the interplay between surface and bulk charge orders in this strongly correlated kagome system.