Gap to Transition Temperature Ratio in Density Wave Ordering: a Dynamical Mean Field Study

We use the dynamical mean-field method to determine the origin of the large ratio of the zero temperature gap to the transition temperature observed in most charge density wave materials. The method is useful because it allows an exact treatment of thermal fluctuations. We establish the relation of the dynamical mean-field results to conventional diagrammatics and thereby determine that in the physically relevant regime the origin of the large ratio is a strong inelastic scattering.Comment: 4 figure

Infrared conductivity of a one-dimensional charge-ordered state: quantum lattice effects

The optical properties of the charge-ordering ($CO$) phase of the one-dimensional (1D) half-filled spinless Holstein model are derived at zero temperature within a well-known variational approach improved including second-order lattice fluctuations. Within the $CO$ phase, the static lattice distortions give rise to the optical interband gap, that broadens as the strength of the electron-phonon ($el-ph$) interaction increases. The lattice fluctuation effects induce a long subgap tail in the infrared conductivity and a wide band above the gap energy. The first term is due to the multi-phonon emission by the charge carriers, the second to the interband transitions accompanied by the multi-phonon scattering. The results show a good agreement with experimental spectra.Comment: 5 figure

Infrared absorption of the charge-ordering phase: Lattice effects

The phase diagram of the half-filled spinless Holstein model for electrons interacting with quantum phonons is derived in three dimensions extending at finite temperature $T$ a variational approach introduced for the one-dimensional T=0 case. Employing the variational scheme, the spectral and optical properties of the system are evaluated in the different regimes that characterize the normal and ordered state. The effects of the charge-ordering ($CO$) induce a transfer of spectral weight from low to high energies in the conductivity spectra, as the temperature decreases or the strength of the electron-phonon ($el-ph$) interaction increases. The inclusion of effects of lattice fluctuations is able to smooth the inverse square-root singularity expected for the case of the mean-field approach and determines a subgap tail absorption. Moreover, in the weak to intermediate coupling regime, a two-component structure is obtained within the $CO$ phase at low frequency: the remnant Drude-like term and the incipient absorption band centered around the gap energy.Comment: 8 figures. to appear on PR