The study of the phases of CDWs under the application of electric fields using multiple x-ray diffraction

Chao-Hung Du,^a Mau-Tsu Tang,^b Yuri P. Stetsko,^b,c Yen-Ru Lee,^c J.-J. Lee^b

and Shih-Lin Chang^b,c

^aDepartment of Physics, Tamkang University, Tamsui 25137, Taiwan; ^bSynchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park, Hsinchu 30077, Taiwan; ^cDepartment of Physics, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30043, Taiwan (chd@mail.tku.edu.tw)

We report the electric field effects on the CDWs’ (charge density waves) phases in a quasi-one dimensional material K_0.3MoO₃ using multiple x-ray diffraction. K_0.3MoO₃ undergoes a metallic-insulator transition due to the formation of charge density waves (CDWs) at temperature T_CDW ~180 K. Conventionally, the dynamic behavior of the CDWs have been widely studied using the transport measurements, and the non-linear response to the application of electric fields exceeding the threshold value has been known to be due to the deformation of the CDWs’ phases. The use of the multiple x-ray diffraction allows us to directly probe the phases of the CDW modulation, further, we observed that the CDWs’ phases shifted under the application of an electric field. We demonstrate that the use of multiple diffraction and the application of electric fields allow the direct observations of the deformation of the CDWs’ phases.