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Abstract

The disappearance of a charge-density-wave (CDW) transition in Lu(Pt1-xPdx)2In is thought to be closely linked to a maximum of the superconducting transition temperature in the system. We studied the superstructure and the phonon softening in Lu(Pt0.5Pd0.5)2In by means of neutron and high-resolution inelastic x-ray scattering. A full phonon softening at qCDW=(0.50.50) with the appearance of superstructure peaks could be clearly identified. This supports the CDW transition to be a continuous transition. The large tail of the superstructure intensity above the CDW transition indicates the importance of critical fluctuations. In general, the observed phonon dispersion relations are quite similar to those predicted by theoretical calculations. However, the softening occurs in a much narrower momentum range than predicted. © 2022 authors. Published by the American Physical Society. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. Open access publication funded by the Max Planck Society.