Charge density wave dislocation as revealed by coherent x-ray diffraction

Phys Rev Lett. 2005 Sep 9;95(11):116401. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.116401. Epub 2005 Sep 7.

Abstract

Coherent x-ray diffraction experiments have been performed on high quality crystals of the charge density wave (CDW) system K0.3MoO3. The satellite reflections associated with the CDW have been measured as a function of the 20-microm-diameter beam position. For some positions, regular fringes have been observed. We show that this observation is consistent with the presence of a single CDW dislocation. Beyond charge density wave systems, this experiment shows that coherent x-ray diffraction is a suitable tool to probe topological defects embedded in the bulk.