Effect of disorder on the strain-tuned charge density wave multicriticality in PdxErTe3

Symmetry is a central concept in condensed matter physics. Similarly, disorder is pervasive in real materials and can have important effects on a wide range of physical properties. Here, the authors explore how disorder affects a strain-tuned bicritical point associated with the meeting of two non-symmetry-related continuous phase transitions in an orthorhombic material. They find evidence for an emergent pseudo-tetragonal symmetry proximate to the bicritical point, which, despite negligible changes in the structural orthorhombicity, occurs for a smaller value of the critical strain and extends over a wider range of tuning parameters than for the pristine material.