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Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Magnetic Tweezers for the Measurement of Twist and Torque
Published on: May 19, 2014
Torsional strain of TaS3 whiskers on the charge-density wave depinning
V Ya Pokrovskii1, S G Zybtsev, I G Gorlova
1Institute of Radioengineering and Electronics of RAS, 125009 Mokhovaya 11-7, Moscow, Russia.
Abstract:
We find that an electric current I exceeding the threshold value results in torsional strain of o-TaS3 samples with one contact freely suspended. The rotation angle deltavarphi of the free end achieves several degrees and exhibits hysteresis as a function of I. The sign of deltavarphi depends on the I polarity; a polar axis along the conducting chains (the c axis) is pointed out. We associate the effect with surface shear of the charge-density wave (CDW) coupled to the crystal shear. The current-induced torsional strain could be treated in terms of enormous piezoelectric coefficients (>10(-4) cm/V) corresponding to shear. In essence, TaS3 appears to be a ready torsional actuator based on the unique intrinsic property of the CDW.
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