Charge-Stripe Order and Superconductivity in Ir1−xPtxTe2

A combined resistivity and hard x-ray diffraction study of superconductivity and charge ordering in Ir Ir1−xPtxTe2, as a function of Pt substitution and externally applied hydrostatic pressure, is presented. Experiments are focused on samples near the critical composition x c ~ 0.045 where competition and switching between charge order and superconductivity is established. We show that charge order as a function of pressure in Ir0.95Pt0.05Te2 is preempted — and hence triggered — by a structural transition. Charge ordering appears uniaxially along the short crystallographic (1, 0, 1) domain axis with a (1/5, 0, 1/5) modulation. Based on these results we draw a charge-order phase diagram and discuss the relation between stripe ordering and superconductivity.