A Ginzburg-Landau theory for hysteresis in charge density wave systems

Abstract The Ginzburg-Landau energy of deformable charge-density-waves is treated taking into account the finite size of the sample. We derive a simple model in which the hysteresis and metastability, as observed in several charge-density-wave systems, occurs due to “pile-up” of the charge-density-wave against the sample boundary. The static field dependence of the induced polarization is that of a ferro-electric, similar to that observed in K 0.3 MoO 3 . The transient response is found to be in good agreement with the pulse-sign memory observed in TaS 3 and NbSe 3 .