Micro-contact spectroscopy features of quasi-one-dimensional materials with a charge-density wave

We have applied the method of point-contact (PC) spectroscopy to conductors with a charge-density-wave (CDW) ground state. Recent experimental results of the investigation of characteristics of PC formed between a normal metal (N) and different CDW conductors are reported. For a uniform N–CDW boundary, we show that the interaction of carriers injected from the normal metal with the CDW results in their reflection without changes in the sign of the charge but with a momentum transfer 2 p F to the condensate of electron–hole pairs carried away from the N–CDW interface. In the case of a non-uniform N–CDW boundary (direct point contact), a strong local CDW deformation, due to a band bending effect, was observed in materials with a semiconducting ground state. The chemical potential can be strongly modified, changing the conductivity type in the vicinity of the PC. It was shown that, in the case of a CDW conductor with a metal or semimetal ground state, the band bending effect is negligible (because of the screening of the electric field by remaining normal carriers) and the spectroscopy of the Peierls energy gap is possible.