Phase coexistence and pinning of charge density waves by interfaces in chromium

Article

关键词: X-RAY;    SPIN;    SPINTRONICS;    FILMS;    ANTIFERROMAGNETISM;    SUPERLATTICES;    MAGNETISM;    SURFACES;    CR;   

DOI  :  10.1103/PhysRevB.94.174110

来源: SCIE

【 摘 要 】

We study the temperature dependence of the charge density wave (CDW) in a chromium thin film using x-ray diffraction. We exploit the interference between the CDW satellite peaks and Laue oscillations to determine the amplitude, the phase, and the period of the CDW. We find discrete half-integer periods of CDW in the film and switching of the number of periods by one upon cooling/heating with a thermal hysteresis of 20 K. The transition between different CDWperiods occurs over a temperature range of 30 K, slightly larger than the width of the thermal hysteresis. A comparison with simulations shows that the phase transition occurs as a variation of the volume fraction of two distinct phases with well-defined periodicities. The phase of the CDW is constant for all temperatures, and we attribute it to strong pinning of the CDW by the mismatch-induced strain at the film-substrate interface.

【 授权许可】

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