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Updated: May 3, 2026

Rapid Repetition Rate Fluctuation Measurement of Soliton Crystals in a Microresonator
Published on: December 15, 2021
Hysteretic melting transition of a soliton lattice in a commensurate charge modulation
Pin-Jui Hsu1, Tobias Mauerer1, Matthias Vogt1
1Physikalisches Institut, Universität Würzburg, 97074 Würzburg, Germany.
Abstract:
We report on the observation of the hysteretic transition of a commensurate charge modulation in IrTe2 from transport and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) studies. Below the transition (TC≈275 K on cooling), a q=1/5 charge modulation was observed, which is consistent with previous studies. Additional modulations [qn=(3n+2)(-1)] appear below a second transition at TS≈180 K on cooling. The coexistence of various modulations persists up to TC on warming. The atomic structures of charge modulations and the temperature-dependent STM studies suggest that 1/5 modulation is a periodic soliton lattice that partially melts below TS on cooling. Our results provide compelling evidence that the ground state of IrTe2 is a commensurate 1/6 charge modulation, which originates from the periodic dimerization of Te atoms visualized by atomically resolved STM images.
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