The unusual normal state and charge-density-wave order in 2H-NbSe₂

Abstract

Competition between collective states like charge-density-wave and superconductivity, unencumbered by the spin degrees of freedom, is played out in some of the transition metal dichalcogenides. Although 2H-NbSe2 has received much less attention than some of the other members of the family (such as 1T-TiSe2 and 2H-TaSe2) of late, it shows superconductivity at 7.2 K and incommensurate charge ordering at 33 K. Recent experiments, notably angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy, have cast serious doubts on the theories based on Fermi surface nesting and electron-phonon interaction. The normal state has been found to be a poor, incoherent metal and remarkably, the coherence increases in the broken symmetry state. From a preformed excitonic liquid scenario, we show that there exists a natural understanding of the experimental data on 2H-NbSe2, based on electron-electron interaction. The collective instabilities, in this scenario, are viewed as a condensation of an incoherent excitonic liquid already present at high temperature.