Sound Propagation in Cdw and Sdw

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe present a microscopic theory of the sound propagation in quasi one dimensional charge density wave (CDW), spin density wave (SDW) and field induced spin density wave (FISDW). First, we consider the ideal situation that the phase correlation length in the CDW or the SDW is infinite. In this limit due to the diffusion pole at iω = Dq2 in a variety of correlation functions the sound propagation depends on a) what is the ratio ω/Dq2 and b) if the CDW (or the SDW) is pinned or unpinned where D is the diffusion constant. Second, when the CDW (or the SDW) is unpinned, the phason starts to participate in the screening of the ionic potential. However, since the unpinned part is strongly inhomogeneous, the contribution of the phason term depends on the wave vector of q of the sound wave like (1 + (Lq)2)−1 where L is the Fukuyama-Lee-Rice coherence length. The present theory accounts for a variety of features observed in sound propagation in quasi-one dimensional CDW systems like NbSe3 and TaS3.