Short-range charge density wave order in 2H−TaS2

$2H\text{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{Ta}{\mathrm{S}}_{2}$ undergoes a charge density wave (CDW) transition at ${T}_{\mathrm{CDW}}\ensuremath{\sim}75$ K, however key questions regarding the onset of CDW order remain under debate. In this study, we explore the CDW transition through a combination of temperature and excitation-dependent Raman spectroscopy, angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), and density functional theory (DFT). Below ${T}_{\mathrm{CDW}}$ we identify two CDW amplitude modes that redshift and broaden with increasing temperature and one zone-folded mode that disappears above ${T}_{\mathrm{CDW}}$. Above ${T}_{\mathrm{CDW}}$, we observe a strong two-phonon mode that softens substantially upon cooling, which suggests the presence of substantial lattice distortions at temperatures as high as 250 K. This correlates with the ARPES observation of the persistence of a CDW energy gap above ${T}_{\mathrm{CDW}}$ and finite-temperature DFT calculations of the phonon band structure that indicate an instability occurring well above the CDW transition temperature. DFT also provides the atomic displacements of the CDW amplitude modes and reproduces their temperature dependence. From these observations we suggest that short range CDW order exists well above ${T}_{\mathrm{CDW}}$, which poses new questions regarding the interplay between electronic structure and vibrational modes in layered CDW materials.