Physics
Interplay of charge density wave states and strain at the surface of CeTe2
Document Type
Article
Abstract
We use scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to study charge density wave (CDW) states in the rare-earth ditelluride, CeTe2. Our STM measurements surprisingly detect a unidirectional CDW with q∼0.28a∗, which differs from previous experimental and first-principles studies of the rare-earth ditellurides, and which is very close to what is found in experimental measurements of the related rare-earth tritellurides. Furthermore, in the vicinity of an extended subsurface defect, we find spatially-separated as well as spatially-coexisting unidirectional CDWs at the surface of CeTe2. We quantify the nanoscale strain and its variations induced by this defect, and establish a correlation between local lattice strain and the locally-established CDW states; this suggests that lattice strain plays an important role in determining the specific characteristics of the established CDW state. Our measurements probe the fundamental properties of a weakly-bound two-dimensional Te sheet, which experimental and theoretical work has previously established as the fundamental component driving much of the essential physics in both the rare-earth di- and tritelluride compounds.
Publication Title
Physical Review B
Publication Date
6-15-2020
Volume
101
Issue
24
ISSN
2469-9950
DOI
10.1103/PhysRevB.101.245423
Keywords
charge density, rare earth compounds, rare earths, scanning tunneling microscopy
Repository Citation
Sharma, Bishnu; Singh, Manoj; Ahmed, Burhan; Yu, Boning; Walmsley, Philip; Fisher, Ian R.; and Boyer, Michael C., "Interplay of charge density wave states and strain at the surface of CeTe2" (2020). Physics. 56.
https://commons.clarku.edu/faculty_physics/56
Cross Post Location
Student Publications
