Nature Communications (Apr 2024)

Charge density waves tuned by biaxial tensile stress

  • A. Gallo–Frantz,
  • V. L. R. Jacques,
  • A. A. Sinchenko,
  • D. Ghoneim,
  • L. Ortega,
  • P. Godard,
  • P.-O. Renault,
  • A. Hadj-Azzem,
  • J. E. Lorenzo,
  • P. Monceau,
  • D. Thiaudière,
  • P. D. Grigoriev,
  • E. Bellec,
  • D. Le Bolloc’h

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47626-5
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 1
pp. 1 – 8

Abstract

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Abstract The precise arrangement and nature of atoms drive electronic phase transitions in condensed matter. To explore this tenuous link, we developed a true biaxial mechanical deformation device working at cryogenic temperatures, compatible with x-ray diffraction and transport measurements, well adapted to layered samples. Here we show that a slight deformation of TbTe3 can have a dramatic influence on its Charge Density Wave (CDW), with an orientational transition from c to a driven by the a/c parameter, a tiny coexistence region near a = c, and without space group change. The CDW transition temperature T c displays a linear dependence with $$\left\vert a/c-1\right\vert$$ a / c − 1 while the gap saturates out of the coexistence region. This behaviour is well accounted for within a tight-binding model. Our results question the relationship between gap and T c in RTe3 systems. This method opens a new route towards the study of coexisting or competing electronic orders in condensed matter.