Density Waves in a Transverse Electric Field

Abstract

In a quasi-one-dimensional conductor with an open Fermi surface, a Charge or a Spin Density Wave phase can be destroyed by an electric field perpendicular to the direction of high conductivity. This mechanism, due to the breakdown of electron-hole symmetry, is very similar to the orbital destruction of superconductivity by a magnetic field, due to time-reversal symmetry.