Charge Density Wave Driven Topological Phase Transition in Vortices

TL;DR

This paper presents a theoretical framework showing how charge density wave phases can control vortex topology in quantum materials, with mechanisms for topological switching relevant to experiments.

Contribution

It introduces two mechanisms—direct modulation and inversion-symmetry-breaking—for phase-controlled vortex topology transitions in the presence of charge density waves.

Findings

CDW phase can switch vortex between topological and trivial regimes.

Inversion-symmetry-breaking CDW enables robust topological transitions.

Proposes experimental scenarios for phase-controlled vortex topology manipulation.

Abstract

The interplay between charge density waves (CDWs) and superconductivity is a central theme in quantum materials, yet how CDW phase textures govern vortex topology remains poorly understood. We develop a theoretical framework showing that the phase of a stripe CDW can switch a magnetic vortex between topological and trivial regimes. Motivated by recent experiments, we propose two candidate mechanisms enabling phase-controlled switching of vortex topology. In a direct-modulation scenario, the CDW acts as a periodic potential that locally renormalizes band parameters and can induce topological transitions, but it generally cannot reproduce the symmetric node/antinode trend without fine tuning. In contrast, in an inversion-symmetry-breaking (ISB) scenario, a CDW node pinned to the vortex center breaks local inversion and allows for the mixture of spin-triplet pairing of Cooper pairs, producing a robust topological transition when this component dominates. Our results suggests CDW phase as a possible local handle to tune and test vortex topology.