Orbital selective commensurate modulations of the local density of states in ScV<sub>6</sub>Sn<sub>6</sub> probed by nuclear spins.

Guehne, Robin; Noky, Jonathan; Yi, Changjiang; Shekhar, Chandra; Vergniory, Maia G; Baenitz, Michael; Felser, Claudia · Nat Commun · 2024

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

The kagome network is a unique platform that harbors a diversity of special electronic states due to its inherent band structure features comprising Dirac cones, van Hove singularities, and flat bands. Some kagome-based metals have recently been found to exhibit favorable properties, including superconductivity, charge order, and signatures of an anomalous Hall effect. The kagome system ScV<sub>6</sub>Sn<sub>6</sub> is a promising candidate for studying the emergence of an unconventional charge order and accompanying effects. We use <sup>51</sup>V nuclear magnetic resonance to explore the local properties of the charge ordered phase in single crystalline ScV<sub>6</sub>Sn<sub>6</sub>, aided by density functional theory. We show the local charge symmetry of V to reflect a commensurate modulation with <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mi>q</mi> <mo>=</mo> <mfenced> <mrow> <mfrac><mrow><mn>1</mn></mrow> <mrow><mn>3</mn></mrow> </mfrac> <mo>,</mo> <mfrac><mrow><mn>1</mn></mrow> <mrow><mn>3</mn></mrow> </mfrac> <mo>,</mo> <mfrac><mrow><mn>1</mn></mrow> <mrow><mn>3</mn></mrow> </mfrac> </mrow> </mfenced> </math> , the density of states to drop by about a factor of <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <msqrt><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow> </msqrt> </math> during the phase transition, and an unusual orientation dependent change in the shift splitting symmetry to reveal orbital selective modulations of the local density of states.