Pressure-induced quenching of the charge-density-wave state observed by x-ray diffraction

TL;DR

This study uses x-ray diffraction to investigate how applying pressure affects the charge-density-wave state in LaTe3 and CeTe3, revealing a pressure-induced suppression of the CDW phase and differences between chemical and mechanical compression effects.

Contribution

It provides direct experimental evidence of pressure-induced quenching of the CDW state and explores how lattice compression type influences electronic properties.

Findings

Pressure suppresses the CDW phase in LaTe3 and CeTe3.

Differences observed between chemical and mechanical lattice compression.

Lattice compression type affects Fermi surface nesting and fluctuation effects.

Abstract

We report an x-ray diffraction study on the charge-density-wave (CDW) LaTe$_3$ and CeTe$_3$ compounds as a function of pressure. We extract the lattice constants and the CDW modulation wave-vector, and provide direct evidence for a pressure-induced quenching of the CDW phase. We observe subtle differences between the chemical and mechanical compression of the lattice. We account for these with a scenario where the effective dimensionality in these CDW systems is dependent on the type of lattice compression and has a direct impact on the degree of Fermi surface nesting and on the strength of fluctuation effects.