Disorder quenching of the Charge Density Wave in ZrTe3

TL;DR

This study investigates how slight selenium substitution in ZrTe3 suppresses its charge density wave order, alters electronic properties, and affects the competition with superconductivity, using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy.

Contribution

It provides detailed insights into the electronic structure changes and the suppression mechanism of CDW in ZrTe3 due to Se substitution, highlighting the loss of long-range order.

Findings

Increased scattering rates with Se substitution

Persistence of the quasi-one-dimensional gap at low temperature

Absence of long-range order in electronic states

Abstract

The charge density wave (CDW) in ZrTe3 is quenched in samples with small amount of Te iso-electronically substituted by Se. Using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy we observe subtle changes in the electronic band dispersions and Fermi surfaces on Se substitution. The scattering rates are substantially increased, in particular for the large three-dimensional Fermi surface sheet. The quasi-one-dimensional band is unaffected by the substitution and still shows a gap at low temperature, which starts to open from room temperature. The detailed temperature dependence reveals that the long-range order is absent in the electronic states as in the periodic lattice distortion. The competition between superconductivity and CDW is thus linked to the suppression of long-range order of the CDW.