Charge density wave in layered La1-xCexSb2 Articles uri icon

authors

  • Luccas, R. F.
  • Fente, A.
  • Hanko, J.
  • Correa Orellana, A.
  • Herrera, E.
  • Climent Pascual, E.
  • Azpeitia, J.
  • Pérez Castañeda, Tomás
  • Osorio, M. R.
  • SALAS COLERA, EDUARDO
  • Nemes, N. M.
  • Mompean, F. J.
  • Garcia Hernandez, M.
  • Rodrigo, J. G.
  • RAMOS GONZALEZ, MIGUEL ANGEL
  • Guillamon, I.
  • Vieira, S.
  • Suderow, H.

publication date

  • December 2015

start page

  • 235153-1

end page

  • 235153-8

issue

  • 23

volume

  • 92

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 10980121 (ISSN)

abstract

  • The layered rare-earth diantimonides RSb2 are anisotropic metals with generally low electronic densities whose properties can be modified by substituting the rare earth. LaSb2 is a nonmagnetic metal with a low residual resistivity presenting a low-temperature magnetoresistance that does not saturate with the magnetic field. It has been proposed that the latter can be associated to a charge density wave (CDW), but no CDW has yet been found. Here we find a kink in the resistivity above room temperature in LaSb2 (at 355 K) and show that the kink becomes much more pronounced with substitution of La by Ce along the La1−xCexSb2 series. We find signatures of a CDW in x-ray scattering, specific heat, and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments in particular for x≈0.5. We observe a distortion of rare-earth&-Sb bonds lying in-plane of the tetragonal crystal using x-ray scattering, an anomaly in the specific heat at the same temperature as the kink in resistivity and charge modulations in STM. We conclude that LaSb2 has a CDW which is stabilized in the La1−xCexSb2 series due to substitutional disorder.