NbSe2
2H-NbSe2 is a layered transition metal dichalcogenide.
It undergoes a phase transition to an incommensurate (IC) (~ 3a0),
triangular charge density wave phase at a temperature TCDW~ 33 K.
It also becomes a prototypical anisotropic s-wave superconductor below a
temperature TSC~7.2 K. The coexistence of the density wave and
superconducting phases and the nature of their interplay has been a subject of
much recent interest, especially in the context of competing order in strongly
correlated systems. Though NbSe2 has been extensively studied by
thermodynamic and spectroscopic probes, several key questions pertaining to
the CDW – viz. what determines the CDW wavevector, the magnitude of the CDW
gap and the role of FS nesting, remain unresolved.
2H-NbSe2 has a layered hexagonal structure (Fig. 1). The unit cell
consists of two sandwiches of Se-Nb-Se. The crystal typically cleaves between
the weakly coupled neighboring Se layers, and the top Se layer is imaged by STM.