MIT physicists map how two electron phases coexist in erbium tritelluride

MIT physicists report in Nature Physics that two distinct charge-density-wave phases of electron order can form and coexist in the rare-earth material erbium tritelluride, Phys.org reported, drawing on an MIT News write-up. Led by Nuh Gedik, the team found that as the crystal cools, electrons first organize into one wave-like charge-density-wave pattern, then a second crisscrossing phase appears, creating an atomic checkerboard of coexisting orders. Time-resolved laser pump-probe photoemission showed the dominant phase reforms uniformly through a continuous transition, while the subdominant phase nucleates in localized domains that expand, a first-order transition. Co-author Alfred Zong said multi-phase quantum materials are widely viewed as central to efforts that could eventually replace silicon-class devices, and that the experiment offers a clean way to study those phases. The authors say untangling how superconductivity, magnetism, and related electronic orders emerge could help engineers design higher-performance quantum devices.