Effect of nonhydrostatic pressure on the superconducting kagome metal CsV$_3$Sb$_5$

TL;DR

This study shows that nonhydrostatic pressure induces a monoclinic phase in CsV$_3$Sb$_5$, affecting its superconductivity, with minimal electronic structure changes but significant lattice distortion.

Contribution

It reveals the impact of nonhydrostatic pressure on the structural phase transition and superconductivity in CsV$_3$Sb$_5$, contrasting with quasi-hydrostatic conditions.

Findings

Nonhydrostatic pressure causes monoclinic distortion above 10 GPa.

Superconductivity reenters near the structural transition.

Fermi surface reconstruction occurs at high pressure.

Abstract

High-pressure single-crystal x-ray diffraction experiments reveal that the superconducting kagome metal CsV$_3$Sb$_5$ transforms from hexagonal ($P6/mmm$) to monoclinic ($C2/m$) symmetry above 10 GPa if nonhydrostatic pressure conditions are created in a diamond anvil cell with silicon oil as pressure-transmitting medium. This is contrary to the behavior of CsV$_3$Sb$_5$ under quasi-hydrostatic conditions in neon, with the hexagonal symmetry retained up to at least 20 GPa. Monoclinic distortion leaves the kagome planes almost unchanged but deforms honeycomb nets of the Sb atoms. While the onset of the distortion almost coincides with the reentrance of superconductivity, our \textit{ab initio} density-functional calculations reveal only minor changes in the electronic structure compared to the quasi-hydrostatic case. In particular, Fermi surface reconstruction driven by the formation of interlayer Sb-Sb bonds is observed in both monoclinic and hexagonal CsV$_3$Sb$_5$ structures at high pressures and comes out as the likely cause for the reentrant behavior.