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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Li, Zheng-Hong, Lee, Yung-Ting, Tai, Yu-Chan, Chiang, Cheng-Tien, Kuo, Chien-Cheng, Lin, Meng-Kai, Lin, Chun-Liang, Hsueh, Hung-Chung, Chung, Ming-Chiang, Chen, Po-Tuan, Lee, Chi-Cheng
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.13458
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Table of Contents:
  • Charge density wave (CDW) formation in two-dimensional materials is governed by complex competing lattice instabilities that remain incompletely understood. Here, we investigate the structural evolution of monolayer $\mathrm{1T-VSe}_{2}$ using first-principles electronic and phonon calculations. The pristine phase exhibits several imaginary-frequency phonon modes associated with dominant instability wave vectors $\mathrm{Q}_{CDW}$, which generate the first-generation CDW phases. Subsequent phonon analyses reveal that several of these intermediate structures remain dynamically unstable and undergo further symmetry-lowering distortions into larger superstructures. Through iterative phonon-driven relaxations, we identify multiple transformation pathways that converge toward the same low-energy $2\sqrt{3}\times4$ CDW configuration. Although these pathways originate from distinct intermediate CDW states, they ultimately reach nearly degenerate energetically stable phases, demonstrating that different phonon-driven routes can lead to the same ground-state configuration. The results establish a unified phonon-driven cascade mechanism for hierarchical CDW formation in monolayer $\mathrm{1T-VSe}_{2}$ and provide a systematic framework for understanding competing ordered phases in low-dimensional quantum materials.