PHASE HAMILTONIAN AND DEPINNING ELECTRIC-FIELD IN THE CHARGE-DENSITY WAVE AND THE SPIN-DENSITY WAVE

Making use of the phase Hamiltonian derived from microscopic models, we study theoretically the threshold electric field when the charge-density wave (CDW) or the spin-density wave starts sliding. Unlike earlier phenomenological models, we can describe the temperature dependence of the threshold field. Most of experimental results on the threshold field in quasi-one-dimensional CDWs are interpreted in terms of the three-dimensional CDW. Curious exceptions are the CDWs in NbSe3, which appear to be described better by the two-dimensional CDW. © 1990 The American Physical Society.