STIFFNESS REDUCTION ASSOCIATED WITH CHARGE-DENSITY-WAVE SLIDING - TEMPERATURE AND BIAS DEPENDENCE IN TAS3

Youngs modulus was measured as a function of electrical bias on o-TaS3 between 60 K and the Peierls transition temperature, Tc=220 K. YCDW, the modulus difference between stationary and rapidly sliding charge-density-wave states, increases as the square of the order parameter immediately below Tc. A second rise begins below 160 K. The shape of the reduction of modulus with bias is controlled predominantly by the excess current, ICDW, and is fit with a stretched exponential. These results are interpreted according to the recently presented phase-relaxation model. © 1990 The American Physical Society.