2025/01/31 by Mingzhe Li, Li, Mingzhe, Jiashuo Gong +23 · 6 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Acoustic Wave Resonator Technologies #Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research #FOS: Physical sciences #Geophysics and Sensor Technology #Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el) #Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2501.18885
openalex publication_date 2025/01/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Superconductivity emerges in both La3Ni2O7 and La4Ni3O10 under high pressure by suppressing their density-wave transitions, but critical temperature (Tc) differs significantly between these two compounds. To gain deeper insights into the distinct superconducting states, it is essential to unravel the nature of the density-wave states at ambient pressure, a topic that remains largely unexplored. Here, using scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS), we report the direct visualization of an incommensurate unidirectional charge density wave (CDW) in La4Ni3O10 in real space. The density of states (DOS) is strongly depleted near EF, indicating the opening of a CDW gap of 2Δ ≈ 71 meV, which is unfavorable for the formation of superconductivity at ambient pressure. We propose that the CDW arises from Fermi surface nesting, and is likely a subsidiary phase of a spin density wave. Compared to La3Ni2O7, the weaker electronic correlation in La4Ni3O10 is likely one reason for the lower Tc.