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arXiv · 2503.05545

Discovery of unconventional charge-spin-intertwined density wave in magnetic kagome metal GdTi3Bi4

Abstract

The symmetry breaking and its interplay among spin, charge, and lattice degrees of freedom is crucial for understanding correlated quantum states such as charge density waves (CDWs) and unconventional superconductivity. Here, we report the discovery by low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy of unconventional charge-spin-intertwined density waves in magnetic kagome metal GdTi3Bi4, which exhibits the one-third magnetization plateau. We reveal the emergence of 3Q CDWs incommensurate with the crystalline lattice in both periodicity and orientation, breaking all mirror and rotation symmetries. The CDW exhibits incommensurate-commensurate transitions in an applied magnetic field and transitions between 3Q and 1Q CDWs as a function of field and temperature, accompanied by changes in the spatial symmetries. Remarkably, the quantum and classic melting of the CDWs exhibits a phase structure which is consistent with the magnetization phase diagram of bulk GdTi3Bi4, providing strong evidence for the intertwined charge-spin density wave order. The origin of the charge-spin intertwinement is further evidenced by the observed hybridization between itinerant electrons and Gd local moments. Our findings uncover an unconventional form of charge-spin orders and offer new insights into a broad class of multi-components density wave formation in kagome and other correlated quantum materials.

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Xianghe Han, Hui Chen, Zhongyi Cao, Jingwen Guo, Fucong Fei, Hengxin Tan, Jianfeng Guo, Yanhao Shi, Runnong Zhou, Ruwen Wang, Zhen Zhao, Haitao Yang, Fengqi Song, Shiyu Zhu, Binghai Yan, Ziqiang Wang, Hong-Jun Gao. 2025-03-07. Discovery of unconventional charge-spin-intertwined density wave in magnetic kagome metal GdTi3Bi4. https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.05545

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