Fractal and subharmonic responses driven by surface acoustic waves during charge density wave sliding

Abstract: We theoretically investigate the effects of surface acoustic waves (SAWs) on an electric-field-driven sliding motion of a one-dimensional charge density wave (CDW), which is initially pinned by impurities. By numerically analyzing an extended Fukuyama-Lee-Rice model, we show that a mechanical vibration of the SAW, which, in the model, is assumed to affect the CDW via the pinning site in the form of temporally oscillating pinning parameters, induces Shapiro steps with self-similarity, i.e., the devil's staircase, in the current-voltage characteristics. It is also found that when the SAW acts as the vibration in the pinning strength, the mechanism of the mode locking (harmonic and subharmonic responses) leading to the occurrence of the Shapiro steps is modified, and as a result, the fractal dimension and parameter dependence of the SAW-induced staircase can be considerably different from those for the conventional ac-electric-field-induced one. This suggests that an unconventional type of fractal phenomena can emerge in the SAW-induced CDW dynamics.