Enhanced sliding in the coexisting Charge Density Wave phase of strained TbTe3

Abstract

In the last years, the application of mechanical tensile stress has been shown to trigger unconventional phases in quantum materials. Recently, an orientational transition of the charge density wave (CDW) of TbTe3 was reported under the application of moderate uniaxial tensile stress, associated to the in-plane a/c lattice anisotropy. This leads to the disappearance of the pristine c-oriented CDW (CDWc) and to the appearance of the orthogonal a-oriented one (CDWa). A coexistence phase with a superposition of CDWa and CDWc appears when a=c. Here, we probe the sliding dynamics of both CDWc and CDWa as a function of applied tensile stress, i.e. in the pure CDWc, pure CDWa and coexistence phases, by measuring current-voltage characteristics and associated differential resistances. If the pristine CDWc has been known to display non-linear dynamics and thus sliding for several years, we show here that the strain-induced CDWa phase also displays the same characteristics, proving its incommensurate nature. Moreover, we show that sliding also takes place both for CDWc and CDWa, with reduced threshold currents, in the coexistence phase, which questions the microstructure of these coexisting orthogonal CDWs in real space. Finally, the linearity of the threshold fields is kept for all deformation states, with finite threshold fields at Tc, which is discussed in terms of commensurability and pinning potentials. This work opens new questions for the theoretical description of sliding CDWs in quasi-2D systems.