Discovery of charge density wave in a correlated kagome lattice antiferromagnet

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of a charge density wave in an antiferromagnetic kagome lattice metal FeGe, revealing complex interplay between electron correlations, magnetic order, and topological effects.

Contribution

It is the first observation of CDW in a correlated magnetic kagome lattice metal, linking it to magnetic order and topological phenomena.

Findings

CDW observed in FeGe within the AFM phase

CDW wavevectors match those in AV3Sb5

CDW enhances AFM moment and induces anomalous Hall effect

Abstract

A hallmark of strongly correlated quantum materials is the rich phase diagram resulting from competing and intertwined phases with nearly degenerate ground state energies. A well-known example is the copper oxides, where a charge density wave (CDW) is ordered well above and strongly coupled to the magnetic order to form spin-charge separated stripes that compete with superconductivity. Recently, such rich phase diagrams have also been revealed in correlated topological materials. In two-dimensional kagome lattice metals consisting of corner-sharing triangles, the geometry of the lattice can produce flat bands with localized electrons, non-trivial topology, chiral magnetic order, superconductivity and CDW order. While CDW has been found in weakly electron correlated nonmagnetic AV3Sb5 (A = K, Rb, Cs), it has not yet been observed in correlated magnetic ordered kagome lattice metals. Here we report the discovery of CDW within the antiferromagnetic (AFM) ordered phase of kagome lattice FeGe. The CDW in FeGe occurs at wavevectors identical to that of AV3Sb5, enhances the AFM ordered moment, and induces an emergent anomalous Hall effect. Our findings suggest that CDW in FeGe arises from the combination of electron correlations-driven AFM order and van Hove singularities-driven instability possibly associated with a chiral flux phase, in stark contrast to strongly correlated copper oxides and nickelates, where the CDW precedes or accompanies the magnetic order.