Discovery of an Unconventional Charge Density Wave at the Surface of K_{0.9}Mo_{6}O_{17}

Structural approach to charge density waves in low-dimensional systems: electronic instability and chemical bonding

The charge density wave (CDW) instability, usually occurring in low-dimensional metals, has been a topic of interest for longtime. However, some very fundamental aspects of the mechanism remain unclear. Recently, a plethora of new CDW materials, a substantial fraction of which is two-dimensional or even three-dimensional, has been prepared and characterised as bulk and/or single-layers. As a result, the need for revisiting the primary mechanism of the instability, based on the electron-hole instability established more than 50 years ago for quasi-one-dimensional (quasi-1D) conductors, has clearly emerged. In this work, we consider a large number of CDW materials to revisit the main concepts used in understanding the CDW instability, and emphasise the key role of the momentum dependent electron-phonon coupling in linking electronic and structural degrees of freedom. We argue that for quasi-1D systems, earlier weak coupling theories work appropriately and the energy gain due to the CDW and the concomitant periodic lattice distortion (PLD) remains primarily due to a Fermi surface nesting mechanism. However, for materials with higher dimensionality, intermediate and strong coupling regimes are generally at work and the modification of the chemical bonding network by the PLD is at the heart of the instability. We emphasise the need for a microscopic approach blending condensed matter physics concepts and state-of-the-art first-principles calculations with quite fundamental chemical bonding ideas in understanding the CDW phenomenon in these materials.

Band-selective Holstein polaron in Luttinger liquid material A0.3MoO3 (A = K, Rb)

(Quasi-)one-dimensional systems exhibit various fascinating properties such as Luttinger liquid behavior, Peierls transition, novel topological phases, and the accommodation of unique quasiparticles (e.g., spinon, holon, and soliton, etc.). Here we study molybdenum blue bronze A_0.3MoO₃ (A = K, Rb), a canonical quasi-one-dimensional charge-density-wave material, using laser-based angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Our experiment suggests that the normal phase of A_0.3MoO₃ is a prototypical Luttinger liquid, from which the charge-density-wave emerges with decreasing temperature. Prominently, we observe strong renormalizations of band dispersions, which are recognized as the spectral function of Holstein polaron derived from band-selective electron-phonon coupling in the system. We argue that the strong electron-phonon coupling plays an important role in electronic properties and the charge-density-wave transition in blue bronzes. Our results not only reconcile the long-standing heavy debates on the electronic properties of blue bronzes but also provide a rare platform to study interesting excitations in Luttinger liquid materials.

Switching of band inversion and topological surface states by charge density wave

Topologically nontrivial materials host protected edge states associated with the bulk band inversion through the bulk-edge correspondence. Manipulating such edge states is highly desired for developing new functions and devices practically using their dissipation-less nature and spin-momentum locking. Here we introduce a transition-metal dichalcogenide VTe2, that hosts a charge density wave (CDW) coupled with the band inversion involving V3d and Te5p orbitals. Spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy with first-principles calculations reveal the huge anisotropic modification of the bulk electronic structure by the CDW formation, accompanying the selective disappearance of Dirac-type spin-polarized topological surface states that exist in the normal state. Thorough three dimensional investigation of bulk states indicates that the corresponding band inversion at the Brillouin zone boundary dissolves upon the CDW formation, by transforming into anomalous flat bands. Our finding provides a new insight to the topological manipulation of matters by utilizing CDWs' flexible characters to external stimuli.

Reproduction of the Charge Density Wave Phase Diagram in 1T-TiSe_{2} Exposes its Excitonic Character

Recent experiments suggest that excitonic degrees of freedom play an important role in precipitating the charge density wave (CDW) transition in 1T-TiSe_{2}. Through systematic calculations of the electronic and phonon spectrum based on density functional perturbation theory, we show that the predicted critical doping of the CDW phase overshoots the experimental value by 1 order of magnitude. In contrast, an independent self-consistent many-body calculation of the excitonic order parameter and renormalized band structure is able to capture the experimental phase diagram in extremely good qualitative and quantitative agreement. This demonstrates that electron-electron interactions and the excitonic instability arising from direct electron-hole coupling are pivotal to accurately describe the nature of the CDW in this system. This has important implications to understand the emergence of superconductivity within the CDW phase of this and related systems.

Charge Density Waves and the Hidden Nesting of Purple Bronze K_{0.9}Mo_{6}O_{17}

We introduce the first multiorbital effective tight-binding model to describe the effect of electron-electron interactions in this system. Upon fixing all the effective hopping parameters in the normal state against an ab initio band structure, and with only the overall scale of the interactions as the sole adjustable parameter, we find that a self-consistent Hartree-Fock solution reproduces extremely well the experimental behavior of the charge density wave (CDW) order parameter in the full range 0<T<T_{c}, as well as the precise reciprocal space locations of the partial gap opening and Fermi arc development. The interaction strengths extracted from fitting to the experimental CDW gap are consistent with those derived from an independent Stoner-type analysis.