Electronic nature of chiral charge order in the kagome superconductor CsV3Sb5

TL;DR

This study reveals the electronic chiral charge order in CsV3Sb5 kagome superconductor using STM, showing a 2x2 charge modulation with chirality and surface effects, and reports on its superconducting properties at 0.4K.

Contribution

First observation of electronic chiral charge order in CsV3Sb5, demonstrating its surface nature and detailed electronic modulation via STM and first-principles calculations.

Findings

Detection of 2x2 charge modulation with chirality

Observation of 1x4 superlattice and domain walls

Superconducting gap with 2Δ=0.85meV and vortex states

Abstract

Kagome superconductors with Tc up to 7K have been discovered over 40 years. Recently, unconventional chiral charge order has been reported in kagome superconductor KV3Sb5, with an ordering temperature of one order of magnitude higher than the TC. However, the chirality of the charge order has not been reported in the cousin kagome superconductor CsV3Sb5, and the electronic nature of the chirality remains elusive. In this letter, we report the observation of electronic chiral charge order in CsV3Sb5 via scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). We observe a 2x2 charge modulation and a 1x4 superlattice in both topographic data and tunneling spectroscopy. 2x2 charge modulation is highly anticipated as a charge order by fundamental kagome lattice models at van Hove filling, and is shown to exhibit intrinsic chirality. We find that the 1x4 superlattices forms various small domain walls, and can be a surface effect as supported by our first-principles calculations. Crucially, we find that the amplitude of the energy gap opened by the charge order exhibits real space modulations, and features 2x2 wave vectors with chirality, highlighting the electronic nature of the chiral charge order. STM study at 0.4K reveals a superconducting energy gap with a gap size 2{\Delta}=0.85meV, which estimates a moderate superconductivity coupling strength with 2{\Delta}/kBTc=3.9. When further applying a c-axis magnetic field, vortex core bound states are observed within this gap, indicative of clean-limit superconductivity.