Discovery of charge density wave in a kagome lattice antiferromagnet

Abstract

A hallmark of strongly correlated quantum materials is the rich phase diagram resulting from competing and intertwined phases with nearly degenerate ground-state energies^1,2. A well-known example is the copper oxides, in which a charge density wave (CDW) is ordered well above and strongly coupled to the magnetic order to form spin-charge-separated stripes that compete with superconductivity^1,2. Recently, such rich phase diagrams have also been shown in correlated topological materials. In 2D kagome lattice metals consisting of corner-sharing triangles, the geometry of the lattice can produce flat bands with localized electrons^3,4, non-trivial topology^5-7, chiral magnetic order^8,9, superconductivity and CDW order^10-15. Although CDW has been found in weakly electron-correlated non-magnetic AV₃Sb₅ (A = K, Rb, Cs)^10-15, it has not yet been observed in correlated magnetic-ordered kagome lattice metals^4,16-21. Here we report the discovery of CDW in the antiferromagnetic (AFM) ordered phase of kagome lattice FeGe (refs. ^16-19). The CDW in FeGe occurs at wavevectors identical to that of AV₃Sb₅ (refs. ^10-15), enhances the AFM ordered moment and induces an emergent anomalous Hall effect^22,23. Our findings suggest that CDW in FeGe arises from the combination of electron-correlations-driven AFM order and van Hove singularities (vHSs)-driven instability possibly associated with a chiral flux phase^24-28, in stark contrast to strongly correlated copper oxides^1,2 and nickelates^29-31, in which the CDW precedes or accompanies the magnetic order.