Optical switching of ferro-rotational charge-density wave states

TL;DR

This study demonstrates ultrafast optical switching of charge-density-wave states in 1T-TaS2, revealing coexisting chiralities and proposing heterochiral interfaces as a new avenue for electronic control in correlated materials.

Contribution

It uncovers the coexistence of ferro-rotational CDW states and predicts complex moiré superstructures at heterochiral interfaces using DFT simulations.

Findings

Coexistence of chiral CDW states observed via electron diffraction.

DFT predicts fractal moiré superstructures with kagome bands.

Heterochiral interfaces offer new degrees of freedom for electronic control.

Abstract

Tailored optical excitations can steer a system along non-equilibrium pathways to metastable states with specific structural or electronic properties. The light-induced hidden state of 1T-TaS$_{2}$, with its strongly enhanced conductivity and exceptionally long lifetime, represents a unique model system for studying the ultrafast switching of correlated electronic states. We use surface-sensitive electron diffraction in combination with a femtosecond optical quench to reveal the coexistence of both charge-density-wave (CDW) 2D chiralities as a structural characteristic of the hidden state, corresponding to coexisting ferro-rotational CDW states. Density functional theory (DFT) simulations of interfaces between opposite CDW 2D chiralities predict a higher-level, fractal-type moir'{e} superstructure with a kagome band structure near the Fermi energy. More broadly, these findings suggest that heterochiral interfaces in CDW systems provide an additional structural degree of freedom, expanding the possibilities for electronic control via twist-angle engineering.