Unconventional spin-intertwined charge density wave in magnetic phases of kagome metal GdTi3Bi4
The symmetry breaking density waves and their interplay with spin and charge are crucial for understanding the correlated electronic states in quantum materials. However, symmetry-breaking density waves involving simultaneous charge and spin modulations remain largely unexplored. Here, we report the unconventional spin-intertwined charge density wave in magnetic kagome metal GdTi<sub>3</sub>Bi<sub>4</sub> by scanning tunneling spectroscopy. We observe a 3Q charge density wave that is incommensurate with the crystalline lattice in both periodicity and orientation and breaks all mirror and rotation symmetries. The CDW undergoes incommensurate-commensurate transitions in a magnetic field and 3Q-1Q transitions as a function of applied magnetic field and temperature. Remarkably, the quantum and thermal melting of the CDW exhibits a phase structure closely resembling the bulk magnetization phase diagram of GdTi<sub>3</sub>Bi<sub>4</sub>, which provides evidence for the observation and manipulation of spin-intertwined CDW as a bulk property. Our findings reveal the microscopic textures of the intricate magnetic phases with unconventional charge-spin coupling, and offer insights into a broad class of multi-components density wave formation in kagome and other correlated quantum materials.
Authors
- Hui Gao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0162-2445)
- Chuyi Tuo
- Hengxin Tan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6366-4731)
- fucong fei
- Zhen Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0572-5268)
- R.N. Wang
- Zhongyi Cao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9380-8110)
- Yanhao Shi
- Shiyu ZHU
- Binghai Yan
- Run Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-4311-298X)
- Fengqi Song (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6266-6551)
- Xianghe Han
- Ziqiang Wang
- Haitao Yang
- Ming-Rui Li
- Jingwen Guo
- Hui Chen
- Hong Yao
Institutions
- Boston College (US)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- FZU ‒ Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (CZ)
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures (CN)
- Institute of Physics (CN)
- National Laboratory for Superconductivity (CN)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Weizmann Institute of Science (IL)
- Tsinghua University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-02-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-69544-4
- Primary Topic
- Topological Materials and Phenomena
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Research Corporation for Science Advancement
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Israel Science Foundation
- National Postdoctoral Program for Innovative Talents
- Basic Energy Sciences