Origin of chirality in transition-metal dichalcogenides

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Kim, Kwangrae, Kim, Hyun-Woo J., Ha, Seunghyeok, Kim, Hoon, Kim, Jin-Kwang, Kim, Jaehwon, Kim, Hyunsung, Kwon, Junyoung, Seol, Jihoon, Jung, Saegyeol, Kim, Changyoung, Alatas, Ahmet, Said, Ayman, Merz, Michael, Tacon, Matthieu Le, Bok, Jin Mo, Kim, Ki-Seok, Kim, B. J.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Kim, Kwangrae
Kim, Hyun-Woo J.
Ha, Seunghyeok
Kim, Hoon
Kim, Jin-Kwang
Kim, Jaehwon
Kim, Hyunsung
Kwon, Junyoung
Seol, Jihoon
Jung, Saegyeol
Kim, Changyoung
Alatas, Ahmet
Said, Ayman
Merz, Michael
Tacon, Matthieu Le
Bok, Jin Mo
Kim, Ki-Seok
Kim, B. J.
author_facet Kim, Kwangrae
Kim, Hyun-Woo J.
Ha, Seunghyeok
Kim, Hoon
Kim, Jin-Kwang
Kim, Jaehwon
Kim, Hyunsung
Kwon, Junyoung
Seol, Jihoon
Jung, Saegyeol
Kim, Changyoung
Alatas, Ahmet
Said, Ayman
Merz, Michael
Tacon, Matthieu Le
Bok, Jin Mo
Kim, Ki-Seok
Kim, B. J.
contents Chirality is a ubiquitous phenomenon in which a symmetry between left- and right-handed objects is broken, examples in nature ranging from subatomic particles and molecules to living organisms. In particle physics, the weak force is responsible for the symmetry breaking and parity violation in beta decay, but in condensed matter systems interactions that lead to chirality remain poorly understood. Here, we unravel the mechanism of chiral charge density wave formation in the transition-metal dichalcogenide 1T-TiSe2. Using representation analysis, we show that charge density modulations and ionic displacements, which transform as a continuous scalar field and a vector field on a discrete lattice, respectively, follow different irreducible representations of the space group, despite the fact that they propagate with the same wave-vectors and are strongly coupled to each other. This charge-lattice symmetry frustration is resolved by further breaking of all symmetries not common to both sectors through induced lattice distortions, thus leading to chirality. Our theory is verified using Raman spectroscopy and inelastic x-ray scattering, which reveal that all but translation symmetries are broken at a level not resolved by state-of-the-art diffraction techniques.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2312_11979
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Origin of chirality in transition-metal dichalcogenides
Kim, Kwangrae
Kim, Hyun-Woo J.
Ha, Seunghyeok
Kim, Hoon
Kim, Jin-Kwang
Kim, Jaehwon
Kim, Hyunsung
Kwon, Junyoung
Seol, Jihoon
Jung, Saegyeol
Kim, Changyoung
Alatas, Ahmet
Said, Ayman
Merz, Michael
Tacon, Matthieu Le
Bok, Jin Mo
Kim, Ki-Seok
Kim, B. J.
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Chirality is a ubiquitous phenomenon in which a symmetry between left- and right-handed objects is broken, examples in nature ranging from subatomic particles and molecules to living organisms. In particle physics, the weak force is responsible for the symmetry breaking and parity violation in beta decay, but in condensed matter systems interactions that lead to chirality remain poorly understood. Here, we unravel the mechanism of chiral charge density wave formation in the transition-metal dichalcogenide 1T-TiSe2. Using representation analysis, we show that charge density modulations and ionic displacements, which transform as a continuous scalar field and a vector field on a discrete lattice, respectively, follow different irreducible representations of the space group, despite the fact that they propagate with the same wave-vectors and are strongly coupled to each other. This charge-lattice symmetry frustration is resolved by further breaking of all symmetries not common to both sectors through induced lattice distortions, thus leading to chirality. Our theory is verified using Raman spectroscopy and inelastic x-ray scattering, which reveal that all but translation symmetries are broken at a level not resolved by state-of-the-art diffraction techniques.
title Origin of chirality in transition-metal dichalcogenides
topic Strongly Correlated Electrons
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.11979