Topological Solitons versus Non-Solitonic Phase Defects in Quasi-One-Dimensional Charge Density Wave

Abstract

We investigated phase defects in a quasi-one-dimensional commensurate charge density wave (CDW) system, an In atomic wire array on Si(111), using low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy. The unique four-fold degeneracy of the CDW state leads to various phase defects, among which intrinsic solitons are clearly distinguished. The solitons exhibit a characteristic variation of the CDW amplitude with a coherence length of about 4 nm, as expected from the electronic structure, and a localized electronic state within the CDW gap. While most of the observed solitons are trapped by extrinsic defects, moving solitons are also identified and their novel interaction with extrinsic defects is disclosed.

5 pages, 4 figures; accepted for publication as a Letter in Physical Review Letters

References in corpus (4)

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• Atomic structure, energetics, and dynamics of topological solitons in Indium chains on Si(111) surfaces
• Improved model for the topological soliton-potential interaction in Phi^4 Model
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• Mobile Kink Solitons in a Van der Waals Charge-Density-Wave Layer
• Atomistic origin of metal versus charge-density-wave phase separation in indium atomic wires on Si(111)
• Two-dimensional chiral stacking orders in quasi-one-dimensional charge density waves
• Tracking defects of Electronic Crystals by Coherent X-ray Diffraction
• Phase transitions and pattern formation in ensembles of phase-amplitude solitons in quasi-one-dimensional electronic systems
• Revealing inverted chirality of hidden domain wall states in multiband systems without topological transition
• Impurity-mediated early condensation of an atomic layer electronic crystal