Fig. 5: Voltage pulse induced metastable CDW state in 1T-TaS2.
From: Mott materials: unsuccessful metals with a bright future
a STM topographical image of the pristine 1T-TaS2 surface resolving the CCDW superlattice. Scale bar: 5 nm. The inset shows a zoomed-in view, with 0.5 nm scale bar. b STM topography of a metastable CDW patch - generated by a 2.8 V voltage pulse from the STM tip - in the insulating background. Scale bar: 10 nm. c Top panel: STM image of the interface between the metastable metallic and the insulating states. Scale bar: 5 nm. Bottom panel: Differential conductance dI/dV measured along the yellow line in the top panel, showing the insulating nature of the pristine CCDW ground state (430 meV energy gap, black), and the metallic nature of the metastable CDW mosaic state (finite local density of states at the Fermi level). Adapted from ref. 91.
