Abstract
The intertwining between spin, charge, and lattice degrees of freedom can give rise to unusual macroscopic quantum states, including high-temperature superconductivity and quantum anomalous Hall effects. Recently, a charge density wave (CDW) has been observed in the kagome antiferromagnet FeGe, indicative of possible intertwining physics. An outstanding question is that whether magnetic correlation is fundamental for the spontaneous spatial symmetry breaking orders. Here, utilizing elastic and high-resolution inelastic x-ray scattering, we observe a c-axis superlattice vector that coexists with the 2 × 2 × 1 CDW vectors in the kagome plane. Most interestingly, between the magnetic and CDW transition temperatures, the phonon dynamical structure factor shows a giant phonon-energy hardening and a substantial phonon linewidth broadening near the c-axis wavevectors, both signaling the spin-phonon coupling. By first principles and model calculations, we show that both the static spin polarization and dynamic spin excitations intertwine with the phonon to drive the spatial symmetry breaking in FeGe.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 6183 |
| Journal | Nature Communications |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2023 |
Funding
We thank Matthew Brahlek, Pengcheng Dai, Jiangping Hu, H. C. Lei, Brain Sales, Jiaqiang Yan, Binghai Yan, Ming Yi, Zhida Song, and Jianzhou Zhao for stimulating discussions. This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division (x-ray and ARPES measurement and model analysis). This research used resources (beamline 4ID and 30ID) of the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. DOE Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. ARPES measurements used resources at 21-ID-1 beamlines of the National Synchrotron Light Source II, a US Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Brookhaven National Laboratory under contract no. DE-SC0012704. T.T. Z. and S. M. acknowledge support from Tokodai Institute for Element Strategy (TIES) funded by MEXT Elements Strategy Initiative to Form Core Research Center Grants No. JPMXP0112101001, JP18J23289, JP18H03678, and JP22H00108. J.X.Y. acknowledges startup funding from the Southern University of Science and Technology. X.L.W. and A.F.W. acknowledge the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 12004056). T.T.Z. also acknowledges the support of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), KAKENHI Grant No. JP21K13865. Y.L.W. acknowledges the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 12174365). The DFT and DFT + DMFT calculations were performed on ThianHe-1A, the National Supercomputer Center in Tianjin, China. R.T. acknowledges the support from The São Paulo Research Foundation, FAPESP (Grant No. 2021/11170-0). We thank Matthew Brahlek, Pengcheng Dai, Jiangping Hu, H. C. Lei, Brain Sales, Jiaqiang Yan, Binghai Yan, Ming Yi, Zhida Song, and Jianzhou Zhao for stimulating discussions. This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division (x-ray and ARPES measurement and model analysis). This research used resources (beamline 4ID and 30ID) of the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. DOE Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. ARPES measurements used resources at 21-ID-1 beamlines of the National Synchrotron Light Source II, a US Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Brookhaven National Laboratory under contract no. DE-SC0012704. T.T. Z. and S. M. acknowledge support from Tokodai Institute for Element Strategy (TIES) funded by MEXT Elements Strategy Initiative to Form Core Research Center Grants No. JPMXP0112101001, JP18J23289, JP18H03678, and JP22H00108. J.X.Y. acknowledges startup funding from the Southern University of Science and Technology. X.L.W. and A.F.W. acknowledge the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 12004056). T.T.Z. also acknowledges the support of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), KAKENHI Grant No. JP21K13865. Y.L.W. acknowledges the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 12174365). The DFT and DFT + DMFT calculations were performed on ThianHe-1A, the National Supercomputer Center in Tianjin, China. R.T. acknowledges the support from The São Paulo Research Foundation, FAPESP (Grant No. 2021/11170-0).