Shear strains in a charge-density-wave measured by X-ray microbeam diffraction
Abstract
In the CDW conductor NbSe_3, variations in thickness across the width of these ribbon-like crystals cause variations in CDW pinning strength and inhomogeneous depinning. We have measured CDW shear strain profiles across the width with 0.5 micrometer resolution using X-ray microbeam diffraction. Shear strains in thicker, more weakly pinned regions appear when these regions depin, and the magnitude of the strains grows with dc bias. Comparison with transport measurements allows us to estimate the CDW's shear modulus. These results demonstrate the promise microbeam techniques as a probe of CDW physics.
- Publication:
-
APS March Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- March 2004
- Bibcode:
- 2004APS..MARV19013I