Abstract
The density waves that develop in kagome metals ScV6Sn6 and LuNb6Sn6 at low temperature appear to arise from underfilled atomic columns within a V-Sn or Nb-Sn scaffolding. Compressing this network with applied pressure in ScV6Sn6 suppressed the structural transition temperature by constraining atomic rattling and inhibiting the shifts that define the structural modulation. We predicted that the density wave transition in LuNb6Sn6 at 68 K would be suppressed by pressure as well. In this Letter, we examine the pressure dependence of the density wave transition by measuring resistance vs temperature up to 2.26 GPa. We found the transition temperature is smoothly depressed and disappears around 1.9 GPa. This result not only addresses our prediction, but strengthens the rattling chains origin of structural instabilities in the HfFe6Ge6-type kagome metals.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | L082001 |
| Journal | Physical Review Materials |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 8 2025 |
Funding
Acknowledgments. W.R.M. acknowledges support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation's EPiQS Initiative, Grant No. GBMF9069 awarded to D.M. Work by B.R.O. was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division. S.M. and D.M. acknowledge the support from AFOSR MURI (Novel Light-Matter Interactions in Topologically Non-Trivial Weyl Semimetal Structures and Systems), Grant No. FA9550-20-1-0322. A portion of this work was performed at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, which is supported by National Science Foundation Cooperative Agreement No. DMR-2128556 and the State of Florida.Data availability. The data that support the findings of this article are openly available [47]. Acknowledgments. W.R.M. acknowledges support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation's EPiQS Initiative, Grant No. GBMF9069 awarded to D.M. Work by B.R.O. was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division. S.M. and D.M. acknowledge the support from AFOSR MURI (Novel Light-Matter Interactions in Topologically Non-Trivial Weyl Semimetal Structures and Systems), Grant No. FA9550-20-1-0322. A portion of this work was performed at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, which is supported by National Science Foundation Cooperative Agreement No. DMR-2128556 and the State of Florida.