The pinning of the charge density wave to irradiation-induced defects Satellite reflection dark-field micrographs of 1T-TaS₂

Abstract

The configuration of the charge density wave (CDW) in the presence of irradiation-induced lattice defects has been studied in 1T-TeS₂. Dark-field electron micrographs were obtained using CDW satellite reflections for a wide range of temperature (100–370 K) and defect concentration (from blow 10⁻⁴ up to 3 × 10⁻² atomic fraction of displaced Ta). Owing to the pinning effect of the defects, the existence of microdomains and phase defects of the CDW is closely correlated to the number of defects in the atom lattice.