Emergence of charge density wave domain walls above the superconducting dome in 1T-TiSe$_2$

ORAL

Abstract

Superconductivity in so-called unconventional superconductors is nearly always found in the vicinity of another ordered state, such as antiferromagnetism, charge density wave (CDW), or stripe order. This suggests a fundamental connection between superconductivity and fluctuations in some other order parameter. To better understand this connection, we used high-pressure X-ray scattering to directly study the CDW order in the layered dichalcogenide TiSe$_2$, which was previously shown to exhibit superconductivity when the CDW is suppressed by pressure or intercalation of Cu atoms. We succeeded in suppressing the CDW fully to zero temperature, establishing for the first time the existence of a quantum critical point (QCP) at P$_c$ = 5.1 $\pm$ 0.2 GPa, which is more than 1 GPa beyond the end of the superconducting region. Unexpectedly, at P $\sim$ 3 GPa we observed a reentrant, weakly first order, incommensurate phase, indicating the presence of a Lifshitz tricritical point somewhere above the superconducting dome. Our study suggests that superconductivity in TiSe$_2$ may be connected to the formation of CDW domain walls

Authors

  • Peter Abbamonte

    Univ of Illinois - Urbana, University of Illinois

  • Young Il Joe

    University of Illinois

  • Xiaoqian Chen

    University of Illinois

  • Pouyan Ghaemi

    Physics Department, City College of the City University of New York, University of Illinois

  • Ken Finkelstein

    Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source, Cornell Universit y, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA, University of Illinois

  • Gilberto de la Pena

    University of Illinois

  • Yu Gan

    University of Illinois

  • James Lee

    Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of Oregon, Eugene, Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory \& Deptartment of Physics, University of Oregon, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

  • Shi Yuan

    University of Illinois

  • Jochen Geck

    Leibniz Institut

  • Greg MacDougall

    U. of Illinois, University of Illinois - Urbana, Univ of Illinois - Urbana, University of Illinois

  • Tai Chiang

    Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Physics and Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA, University of Illinois

  • Lance Cooper

    Univ of Illinois - Urbana, University of Illinois - Urbana, University of Illinois

  • Eduardo Fradkin

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, UIUC, Univ of Illinois - Urbana, University of Illinois