{
  "abstract": "Strange metals are widespread in strongly correlated quantum matter and closely intertwined with high-temperature superconductivity and quantum criticality, yet their microscopic charge dynamics remain fundamentally unresolved. Whether well-defined collective modes survive in an incoherent electronic fluid or dissolve into overdamped continua remains intensely debated. Here, employing high-momentum-resolution inelastic electron scattering complemented by direction-resolved transport, we show that the van der Waals compound $\\mathrm{MoOCl}_2$, a \"bad\" metal known to host unusually \"good\" plasmons, exhibits a striking dichotomy in electronic coherence and charge dynamics. Transport reveals coherent Fermi liquid behavior along one in-plane crystallographic axis and an incoherent strange metal response along the orthogonal axis. This dichotomy extends directly to the charge response. The Fermi liquid direction supports a well-defined, long-lived plasmon, whereas the strange metal direction exhibits an overdamped excitation that progressively loses its collective character with increasing momentum. Beyond a critical momentum ($q_c$ $\\approx$ 0.008 $\\mathring{\\mathrm{A}}^{-1}$), the mode undergoes a reversal into negative dispersion and ultimately collapses into a broad, nearly featureless continuum with a robust high-energy boundary ($E_c$ $\\approx$ 1.75 eV). Remarkably, thickness-dependent measurements show that both $q_c$ and $E_c$ remain nearly unchanged despite substantial modifications of Coulomb screening, revealing them as intrinsic scales of incoherent charge density fluctuations. These results establish a unique single-material platform in which coherent and incoherent electronic states are partitioned into in-plane orthogonal channels, and demonstrate that incoherent electronic fluids retain intrinsically structured charge dynamics beyond the quasiparticle paradigm.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2610.21209",
  "author_total": 10,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Jiade Li"
    },
    {
      "name": "Peiyi He"
    },
    {
      "name": "Deng Hu"
    },
    {
      "name": "Jiakai Wang"
    },
    {
      "name": "Jifeng Shao"
    },
    {
      "name": "Wan-Shun Du"
    },
    {
      "name": "Xuetao Zhu"
    },
    {
      "name": "Jiandong Guo"
    },
    {
      "name": "Zhiwei Wang"
    },
    {
      "name": "Peng Gao"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6pypbjpx2vs9d.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2610.21209",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "6pypbjpx2vs9d",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.21209",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "cond-mat.str-el"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3104|Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7222664056",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2610.21209",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-15",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6pypbjpx2vs9d.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:29:50Z",
      "native_id": "2610.21209",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.21209"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:cond-mat.str-el",
      "subfield": "condensed-matter"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Plasmon Collapse in a Directional Strange Metal",
  "title_text": "Plasmon Collapse in a Directional Strange Metal",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:29:50Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6pypbjpx2vs9d",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}