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Abstract The intrinsic frustrated nature of a kagome lattice is amenable to the realization of exotic phases of matter, such as quantum spin liquids or spin ices, and the multiple-qcharge density waves (CDW) in the kagome metals. Despite intense efforts to understand the mechanism driving the electronic modulations, its origin is still unknown and obscured by competing interactions and intertwined orders. Here, we identify a dimerization-driven 2D hexagonal charge-diffuse precursor in the antiferromagnetic kagome metal FeGe and demonstrate that the fraction of dimerized/undimerized states is the relevant order parameter of the multiple-qCDW of a continuous phase transition. The pretransitional charge fluctuations with propagation vectorq = q_Mat T_CDW < T < T^*(125 K) are anisotropic, hence holding a quasi-long-range bond-orientational order. The broken translational symmetry emerges from the anisotropic diffuse precursor, akin to the Ising scenario of antiferromagnetic triangular lattices. The temperature and momentum dependence of the critical scattering show parallels to the stacked hexatic B-phases reported in liquid crystals and transient states of CDWs and highlight the key role of the topological defect-mediated melting of the CDW in FeGe. 

Abstract Geometrically frustrated kagome lattices are raising as novel platforms to engineer correlated topological electron flat bands that are prominent to electronic instabilities. Here, we demonstrate a phonon softening at thek_z = πplane in ScV₆Sn₆. The low energy longitudinal phonon collapses at ~98 K andq = $$\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{2}$$ $\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{2}$due to the electron-phonon interaction, without the emergence of long-range charge order which sets in at a different propagation vectorq_CDW = $$\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{3}$$ $\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{3}$. Theoretical calculations corroborate the experimental finding to indicate that the leading instability is located at$$\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{2}$$ $\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{2}$of a rather flat mode. We relate the phonon renormalization to the orbital-resolved susceptibility of the trigonal Sn atoms and explain the approximately flat phonon dispersion. Our data report the first example of the collapse of a kagome bosonic mode and promote the 166 compounds of kagomes as primary candidates to explore correlated flat phonon-topological flat electron physics. 

Low dimensional magnetism has been powerfully boosted as a promising candidate for numerous applications. The stability of the long-range magnetic order is directly dependent on the electronic structure and the relative strength of the competing magnetic exchange constants. Here, we report a comparative pressure-dependent theoretical and experimental study of the electronic structure and exchange interactions of two-dimensional ferromagnets CrBr 3 and Cr 2 Ge 2 Te 6 . While CrBr 3 is found to be a Mott–Hubbard-like insulator, Cr 2 Ge 2 Te 6 shows a charge-transfer character due to the broader character of the Te 5p bands at the Fermi level. This different electronic behaviour is responsible for the robust insulating state of CrBr 3 , in which the magnetic exchange constants evolve monotonically with pressure, and the proximity to a metal–insulator transition predicted for Cr 2 Ge 2 Te 6 , which causes a non-monotonic evolution of its magnetic ordering temperature. We provide a microscopic understanding for the pressure evolution of the magnetic properties of the two systems.