Optical spectroscopy study on CeTe$_3$: evidence for multiple charge-density-wave orders

TL;DR

This study uses optical spectroscopy on CeTe$_3$ to reveal the presence of multiple charge-density-wave orders and their temperature-dependent behavior, indicating complex electronic ordering in this material.

Contribution

It provides the first evidence for multiple CDW gaps in CeTe$_3$, highlighting complex charge ordering phenomena in rare-earth tri-tellurides.

Findings

Presence of a large CDW gap at room temperature.

Discovery of a second, smaller CDW gap at low temperature.

Evidence for multiple CDW orders or fluctuations.

Abstract

We performed optical spectroscopy measurement on single crystal of CeTe$_3$, a rare-earth element tri-telluride charge density wave (CDW) compound. The optical spectra are found to display very strong temperature dependence. Besides a large and pronounced CDW energy gap being present already at room temperature as observed in earlier studies, the present measurement revealed the formation of another energy gap at smaller energy scale at low temperature. The second CDW gap removes the electrons near E$_F$ which undergo stronger scattering. The study yields evidence for the presence of multiple CDW orders or strong fluctuations in the light rare-earth element tri-telluride.