Origin of switchable quasiparticle-interference chirality in loop-current phase of kagome metals measured by scanning-tunneling-microscopy

Abstract

In the kagome superconductors AV3Sb5 (A=Cs,Rb,K), a cascade of correlated electron phases cause exotic symmetry-breaking quantum states. In particular, the dissipationless chiral loop-current phase has been attracting increasing attention. A crucial clue is offered by the chirality of the quasiparticle interference signal observed in scanning tunneling microscopy. However, the connection between loop-current chirality and quasiparticle interference chirality remains poorly understood. Here, we reveal theoretically that a pronounced chiral quasiparticle interference signal emerges in the extremely dilute impurity regime ($lesssim$ 0.1 %). A single impurity at site Z induces a quasiparticle interference chirality ${\chi }_Z=\pm 1$, determined by the direction of the Z3 nematicity, itself set by the relative position of the loop-current order in the star-of-David charge-density-wave phase. Notably, even a small magnetic field can smoothly switch the chirality, leading to field-induced shear lattice strain consistent with recent experiments. Our theoretical study provide key insights into the nature of the loop-current-induced symmetry-breaking states in kagome metals.

11 pages, 9 figures

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Cited by in corpus (3)

• Phase-sensitive evidence for pair density waves in a kagome superconductor
• Topological pair density waves in kagome superconductors
• Microscopic origin of period-four stripe charge-density-wave in kagome metal CsV${}_3$Sb${}_5$