Charge-density-wave-driven electronic nematicity in a kagome superconductor

Abstract

Electronic nematicity, in which rotational symmetry is spontaneously broken by electronic degrees of freedom, has been demonstrated as a ubiquitous phenomenon in correlated quantum fluids including high-temperature superconductors and quantum Hall systems^1,2. Notably, the electronic nematicity in high-temperature superconductors exhibits an intriguing entanglement with superconductivity, generating complicated superconducting pairing and intertwined electronic orders. Recently, an unusual competition between superconductivity and a charge-density-wave (CDW) order has been found in the AV₃Sb₅ (A = K, Rb, Cs) family with two-dimensional vanadium kagome nets^3-8. Whether these phenomena involve electronic nematicity is still unknown. Here we report evidence for the existence of electronic nematicity in CsV₃Sb₅, using a combination of elastoresistance measurements, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and scanning tunnelling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/S). The temperature-dependent elastoresistance coefficient (m₁₁ minus m₁₂) and NMR spectra demonstrate that, besides a C₂ structural distortion of the 2a₀ × 2a₀ supercell owing to out-of-plane modulation, considerable nematic fluctuations emerge immediately below the CDW transition (approximately 94 kelvin) and finally a nematic transition occurs below about 35 kelvin. The STM experiment directly visualizes the C₂-structure-pinned long-range nematic order below the nematic transition temperature, suggesting a novel nematicity described by a three-state Potts model. Our findings indicate an intrinsic electronic nematicity in the normal state of CsV₃Sb₅, which sets a new paradigm for revealing the role of electronic nematicity on pairing mechanism in unconventional superconductors.