Intrinsic Floquet Generation and $1/I$ Quantum Oscillations in a Sliding Charge-Density Wave

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that a sliding charge-density wave acts as an intrinsic dc-to-ac converter, producing a unique quantum state with $1/I$ oscillations, revealing a universal spatial-to-temporal conversion mechanism in quantum systems.

Contribution

It provides an exact Floquet solution for the sliding-CDW problem, explaining $1/I$ oscillations and their suppression, and introduces a new paradigm for intrinsically driven quantum devices.

Findings

Exact Floquet solution reveals split gap edges and sidebands.

Weak-probe tunneling shows inverse-current ($1/I$) oscillations.

Inelastic phase-slip dephasing explains oscillation suppression.

Abstract

The realization of intrinsic, tunable high-frequency quantum states without external radiation is a major goal in condensed matter physics and quantum device engineering. Here, we demonstrate that a uniformly sliding charge-density wave (CDW) acts as an intrinsic dc-to-ac converter, transforming spatial periodicity into temporal periodicity to realize a unique periodically driven quantum state. We show that the isolated sliding-CDW problem is exactly solvable in Floquet form, yielding split gap edges and a ladder of Floquet sidebands. Using this exact solution, we reveal that weak-probe tunneling spectroscopy naturally yields an inverse-current ($1/I$) oscillation as a fixed-bias cut of the sideband ladder. Matching the observed oscillation period to theory indicates that the macroscopic current must percolate through a highly localized coherent filament, with an effective channel number orders of magnitude smaller than the geometric chain count. Furthermore, using a segmented multiterminal model, we demonstrate that inelastic phase-slip dephasing near the contacts explains the strong suppression of oscillation visibility on outer voltage probes. Ultimately, our results provide a rigorous transport interpretation of the striking $1/I$ quantum oscillations recently observed in quasi-one-dimensional CDW insulators. More broadly, they highlight a universal spatial-to-temporal conversion mechanism where the insulating gap protects Floquet coherence, offering a novel paradigm for intrinsically driven quantum devices.