Theory for Charge Density Wave and Orbital-Flux State in Antiferromagnetic Kagome Metal FeGe

We theoretically study the charge order and orbital magnetic properties of a new type of antiferromagnetic kagome metal FeGe. Based on first-principles density functional theory calculations, we study the electronic structures, Fermi-surface quantum fluctuations, as well as phonon properties of the antiferromagnetic kagome metal FeGe. It is found that charge density wave emerges in such a system due to a subtle cooperation between electron–electron interactions and electron–phonon couplings, which gives rise to an unusual scenario of interaction-triggered phonon instabilities, and eventually yields a charge density wave (CDW) state. We further show that, in the CDW phase, the ground-state current density distribution exhibits an intriguing star-of-David pattern, leading to flux density modulation. The orbital fluxes (or current loops) in this system emerge as a result of the subtle interplay between magnetism, lattice geometries, charge order, and spin-orbit coupling (SOC), which can be described by a simple, yet universal, tight-binding theory including a Kane–Mele-type SOC term and a magnetic exchange interaction. We further study the origin of the peculiar step-edge states in FeGe, which sheds light on the topological properties and correlation effects in this new type of kagome antiferromagnetic material.