1. Unconventional chiral charge order in kagome superconductor KV3Sb5
- Author
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Linus Kautzsch, Gang Xu, Ronny Thomale, Brenden R. Ortiz, Songtian S. Zhang, Zurab Guguchia, Ziqiang Wang, Titus Neupert, Xiaoxiong Liu, Stephen D. Wilson, Jacob Ruff, M. Zahid Hasan, M. Michael Denner, Maksim Litskevich, Xian P. Yang, Tyler A. Cochran, Daniel Multer, Ilya Belopolski, Guoqing Chang, Junyi He, Nana Shumiya, Shafayat Hossain, Jiaxin Yin, Zijia Cheng, Qi Zhang, Yu-Xiao Jiang, University of Zurich, Yin, Jia-Xin, and Hasan, M Zahid
- Subjects
3104 Condensed Matter Physics ,530 Physics ,Magnetism ,2210 Mechanical Engineering ,1600 General Chemistry ,10192 Physics Institute ,02 engineering and technology ,010402 general chemistry ,01 natural sciences ,symbols.namesake ,Charge ordering ,2211 Mechanics of Materials ,Hall effect ,Condensed Matter::Superconductivity ,General Materials Science ,Quantum tunnelling ,Superconductivity ,Physics ,Condensed matter physics ,Mechanical Engineering ,Fermi level ,Charge (physics) ,General Chemistry ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,Condensed Matter Physics ,2500 General Materials Science ,0104 chemical sciences ,Mechanics of Materials ,symbols ,0210 nano-technology ,Charge density wave - Abstract
Intertwining quantum order and non-trivial topology is at the frontier of condensed matter physics1โ4. A charge-density-wave-like order with orbital currents has been proposed for achieving the quantum anomalous Hall effect5,6 in topological materials and for the hidden phase in cuprate high-temperature superconductors7,8. However, the experimental realization of such an order is challenging. Here we use high-resolution scanning tunnelling microscopy to discover an unconventional chiral charge order in a kagome material, KV3Sb5, with both a topological band structure and a superconducting ground state. Through both topography and spectroscopic imaging, we observe a robust 2 × 2 superlattice. Spectroscopically, an energy gap opens at the Fermi level, across which the 2 × 2 charge modulation exhibits an intensity reversal in real space, signalling charge ordering. At the impurity-pinning-free region, the strength of intrinsic charge modulations further exhibits chiral anisotropy with unusual magnetic field response. Theoretical analysis of our experiments suggests a tantalizing unconventional chiral charge density wave in the frustrated kagome lattice, which can not only lead to a large anomalous Hall effect with orbital magnetism, but also be a precursor of unconventional superconductivity. An unconventional chiral charge order is observed in a kagome superconductor by scanning tunnelling microscopy. This charge order has unusual magnetic tunability and intertwines with electronic topology.
- Published
- 2021