Comment on 'Observation of Shapiro Steps in the Charge Density Wave State Induced by Strain on a Piezoelectric Substrate'

TL;DR

This paper comments on an experiment demonstrating the synchronization of charge density wave sliding in NbSe3 nanowires with surface acoustic waves on a piezoelectric substrate, evidenced by Shapiro steps in the I-V curves.

Contribution

It highlights the experimental observation of CDW synchronization with surface acoustic waves, confirming the interaction between electronic and acoustic modes in nanowires.

Findings

Shapiro steps appear at resonance frequencies

Synchronization occurs only at specific acoustic resonances

Experimental evidence of CDW and acoustic mode coupling

Abstract

In their Letter Fujiwara et al. (10.48550/arXiv.2511.09888. 2025) report a high-quality experiment demonstrating the synchronization of the CDW sliding in NbSe3 whiskers (nanowires) with surface acoustic waves (SAWs). The SAWs are induced in the conventional LiNbO3 piezoelectric substrates through application of rf voltage to an interdigital transducer (IDT). When a SAW mode is excited, Shapiro steps (ShSs) appear on the I-V curves, while no ShSs are observed when the frequency is shifted from the resonance. This gives clear evidence of synchronization of the CDW with the acoustic modes.