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Itinerant density wave instabilities at classical and quantum critical points

Nature Physics volume 11, pages 865–871 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

Charge ordering in metals is a fundamental instability of the electron sea, occurring in a host of materials and often linked to other collective ground states such as superconductivity. What is difficult to parse, however, is whether the charge order originates among the itinerant electrons or whether it arises from the ionic lattice. Here we employ high-resolution X-ray diffraction, combined with high-pressure and low-temperature techniques and theoretical modelling, to trace the evolution of the ordering wavevector Q in charge and spin density wave systems at the approach to both thermal and quantum phase transitions. The non-monotonic behaviour of Q with pressure and the limiting sinusoidal form of the density wave point to the dominant role of the itinerant instability in the vicinity of the critical points, with little influence from the lattice. Fluctuations rather than disorder seem to disrupt coherence.

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Figure 1: Pressure–temperature evolution of the incommensurate wavevector Q.
Figure 2: Temperature evolution of wavevector Q.
Figure 3: CDW harmonics in NbSe2.
Figure 4: Temperature evolution of CDW harmonics in NbSe2.
Figure 5: Theoretical modelling of Q(T, P).
Figure 6: CDW fluctuations near the thermal and quantum critical points.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful for stimulating discussions with R. Jaramillo, C. V. Parker and M. R. Norman, and for NbSe2 samples provided by Y. Liu and Z.-A. Xu. The work at the University of Chicago was supported by National Science Foundation Grant No. 1206519. The work at the Advanced Photon Source of Argonne National Laboratory was supported by the US Department of Energy Basic Energy Sciences under Contract No. NEAC02-06CH11357. J.v.W. acknowledges support from a VIDI grant financed by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA

    Yejun Feng

  2. The James Franck Institute and Department of Physics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA

    Yejun Feng, Jiyang Wang, D. M. Silevitch, P. B. Littlewood & T. F. Rosenbaum

  3. Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Amsterdam, 1090 GL Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Jasper van Wezel

  4. H. H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TL, UK

    Felix Flicker

  5. Physical Sciences and Engineering, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA

    P. B. Littlewood

  6. Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA

    T. F. Rosenbaum

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Contributions

Y.F. and T.F.R. conceived the research. Y.F. and J.W. performed X-ray measurements. Y.F., D.M.S. and T.F.R. analysed the data. Y.F., J.v.W., F.F. and P.B.L. developed the theoretical framework. Y.F., J.v.W. and T.F.R. prepared the manuscript. All authors commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yejun Feng or T. F. Rosenbaum.

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Feng, Y., van Wezel, J., Wang, J. et al. Itinerant density wave instabilities at classical and quantum critical points. Nature Phys 11, 865–871 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3416

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