Observation of charge density wave solitons in overlapping tunnel junctions - art. no. 26640

We report on direct observation of microscopic solitons in single electronic processes of the coherent interlayer tunneling in charge density waves. Special nanoscale devices were fabricated from the chain compound NbSe3 using focused ion beams. The spectra were drastically refined by working at high (up to 27 T) magnetic fields. Internal quantum tunneling of electrons can go through solitons that are energetically more favorable quantum particles than electrons. In addition to the interband tunneling across the gap 2 Delta, we observe a clear peak at the intermediate voltage approximate to 2 Delta/3, which we associate with the creation of microscopic solitons, the energy of which must be 2 Delta/pi. These solitons might correspond to the long sought special quasiparticle-the spinon.