Chiral charge density wave induced by mirror symmetry breaking in kagome metal

Abstract

Kagome lattice provides a distinctive platform to investigate various correlated electron orders. Recently, an unconventional charge density wave (CDW) with novel chirality is observed in the kagome metal AV3Sb5 (A = K, Rb, Cs), and the origin of which is still unclear. Here, using a tight-binding model and the mean-field method, we calculate the electron order in the quasi-2-dimensional kagome lattice with 1/3 electron filling, and show that the chiral CDW emerges under a set of parameters with C6 rotational symmetry but without mirror symmetry. Physically, the reason why we choose this set of parameters is based on the possible tangential distortion of the kagome lattice. Our results provide a fresh insight to understand the microscopic origin of the unconventional CDW in AV3Sb5.