Charge Density Waves in RETe3 and Interplay with Kondo Physics in CeTe3 Tuned by Uniaxial Strain

RETe3, where RE is Ce, La, Gd, Ho, etc., are 2D VdW materials with incredibly high charge density waves (CDW) transition temperatures (up to >600 K) and incommensurate CDW that only partially gaps the Fermi surface, giving rise to large carrier mobilities in the CDW state. The exact mechanism of the CDW formation is not entirely known, but the Fermi surface nesting is thought to play a significant role. It is astonishing that whereas the normal state is expected to be 4-fold symmetric (a=c), forming a perfect “square network” of Te atoms, the CDW state breaks that symmetry and the CDW runs only along the c crystallographic axis. The resulting structure renders slightly different a and c lattice constants, with the difference between them within ~0.2-0.3 %. Within this proposal, we will study the several members of RETe3 family and try to modify their electronic and crystal structure by applying up to 1% of uniaxial strain. We hope that we could restore the 4-fold symmetry and affect both the direction and the magnitude of the CDW and possibly even turn it off.