Raman Spectroscopic Study on Bi2Rh3Se2: Two-dimensional-Ising Charge Density Wave and Quantum Fluctuations

Abstract: The ternary chalcogenide Bi2Rh3Se2 was found to be a charge density wave (CDW) superconductor with a 2*2 periodicity. The key questions regarding the underlying mechanism of CDW state and its interplay with lattice and electronic properties remains to be explored. Here, based on the systematic Raman scattering investigations on single crystalline Bi2Rh3Se2, we observed the fingerprinting feature of CDW state, a collective amplitude mode at 39 cm-1. The temperature evolution of Raman shift and line width for this amplitude mode can be well described by the critical behavior of two-dimensional (2D) Ising model, suggesting the interlayer interactions of Bi2Rh3Se2 is negligible when CDW state is formed, as a consequence, the quantum fluctuations play an important role at low temperature. Moreover, temperature dependence of Raman shift for Ag9 mode deviates significantly from the expected anharmonic behavior when approaching the CDW transition temperature 240 K, demonstrated that strong electron-phonon coupling plays a key role in the formation of CDW. Our results reveal that Bi2Rh3Se2 is an intriguing quasi-2D system to explore electronic quantum phase transition and modulate the correlations between CDW and superconductivity.