Frustrated charge density wave and quasi-long-range bond-orientational order in the magnetic kagome FeGe
The intrinsic frustrated nature of a kagome lattice is amenable to the realization of exotic phases of matter, such as quantum spin liquids or spin ices, and the multiple-q charge density waves (CDW) in the kagome metals. Despite intense efforts to understand the mechanism driving the electronic modulations, its origin is still unknown and obscured by competing interactions and intertwined orders. Here, we identify a dimerization-driven 2D hexagonal charge-diffuse precursor in the antiferromagnetic kagome metal FeGe and demonstrate that the fraction of dimerized/undimerized states is the relevant order parameter of the multiple-q CDW of a continuous phase transition. The pretransitional charge fluctuations with propagation vector q = q<sub>M</sub> at T<sub>CDW</sub> < T < T<sup>*</sup>(125 K) are anisotropic, hence holding a quasi-long-range bond-orientational order. The broken translational symmetry emerges from the anisotropic diffuse precursor, akin to the Ising scenario of antiferromagnetic triangular lattices. The temperature and momentum dependence of the critical scattering show parallels to the stacked hexatic B-phases reported in liquid crystals and transient states of CDWs and highlight the key role of the topological defect-mediated melting of the CDW in FeGe.
Authors
- C. Yi
- J. Strempfer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6443-0283)
- Massimo Tallarida (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1438-3466)
- A. K. Kar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8926-4664)
- Dumitru Călugăru (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5897-9878)
- Haoyu Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3787-6634)
- David Subires
- Subhajit Roychowdhury (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1808-9432)
- Chloe A. Fuller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7152-603X)
- Anupam Jana (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2967-9315)
- J. Dai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1388-6843)
- Yi Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5746-7301)
- I. Vobornik (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9957-3535)
- B. Andrei Bernevig
- A. N. Korshunov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5929-6473)
- Chandra Shekhar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3330-0400)
- Dmitry Chernyshov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7738-9358)
- C.J. McMonagle
- Walter Schnelle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0136-7268)
- Claudia Felser (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8200-2063)
- S. Blanco-Canosa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4437-5846)
- A. Bosak
Institutions
- Ikerbasque (ES)
- The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) (IT)
- Argonne National Laboratory (US)
- University of the Basque Country (ES)
- Princeton University (US)
- ALBA Synchrotron (Spain) (ES)
- European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (FR)
- Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal (IN)
- Istituto Officina dei Materiali (IT)
- Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids (DE)
- Donostia International Physics Center (ES)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-05-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58725-2
- Citations
- 9
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Condensed Matter Physics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 11.32
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
- Princeton University
- European Commission
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Eusko Jaurlaritza
- Office of Science
- European Regional Development Fund
- Office of Naval Research
- Division of Materials Research
- Division of Mathematical Sciences
- Argonne National Laboratory