Cuprates exhibit antiferromagnetic, charge density wave (CDW), and high-temperature superconducting ground states that can be tuned by means of doping and external magnetic fields. However, disorder ...generated by these tuning methods complicates the interpretation of such experiments. Here, we report a high-resolution inelastic x-ray scattering study of the high-temperature superconductor YBa
Cu
O
under uniaxial stress, and we show that a three-dimensional long-range-ordered CDW state can be induced through pressure along the
axis, in the absence of magnetic fields. A pronounced softening of an optical phonon mode is associated with the CDW transition. The amplitude of the CDW is suppressed below the superconducting transition temperature, indicating competition with superconductivity. The results provide insights into the normal-state properties of cuprates and illustrate the potential of uniaxial-pressure control of competing orders in quantum materials.
In high-Tc superconductors the magnetic and electronic properties are determined by the probability that valence electrons jump virtually from site to site in the CuO2 planes, a mechanism opposed by ...on-site Coulomb repulsion and favoured by hopping integrals. The spatial extent of the latter is related to transport properties, including superconductivity, and to the dispersion relation of spin excitations (magnons). Here, for three antiferromagnetic parent compounds (single-layer Bi2 Sr0.9 La1.1 CuO6+δ , double-layer Nd1.2 Ba1.8 Cu3 O6 and infinite-layer CaCuO2 ) differing by the number of apical atoms, we compare the magnetic spectra measured by resonant inelastic X-ray scattering over a significant portion of the reciprocal space and with unprecedented accuracy. We observe that the absence of apical oxygens increases the in-plane hopping range and, in CaCuO2 , it leads to a genuine three-dimensional (3D) exchange-bond network. These results establish a corresponding relation between the exchange interactions and the crystal structure, and provide fresh insight into the materials dependence of the superconducting transition temperature.
Abstract
α
-RuCl
3
is a major candidate for the realization of the Kitaev quantum spin liquid, but its zigzag antiferromagnetic order at low temperatures indicates deviations from the Kitaev model. ...We have quantified the spin Hamiltonian of
α
-RuCl
3
by a resonant inelastic x-ray scattering study at the Ru
L
3
absorption edge. In the paramagnetic state, the quasi-elastic intensity of magnetic excitations has a broad maximum around the zone center without any local maxima at the zigzag magnetic Bragg wavevectors. This finding implies that the zigzag order is fragile and readily destabilized by competing ferromagnetic correlations. The classical ground state of the experimentally determined Hamiltonian is actually ferromagnetic. The zigzag state is stabilized by quantum fluctuations, leaving ferromagnetism – along with the Kitaev spin liquid – as energetically proximate metastable states. The three closely competing states and their collective excitations hold the key to the theoretical understanding of the unusual properties of
α
-RuCl
3
in magnetic fields.
The concept that superconductivity competes with other orders in cuprate superconductors has become increasingly apparent, but obtaining direct evidence with bulk-sensitive probes is challenging. We ...have used resonant soft x-ray scattering to identify two-dimensional charge fluctuations with an incommensurate periodicity of ∼3.2 lattice units in the copper-oxide planes of the superconductors (Y,Nd)Ba 2 Cu 3 O 6+x , with hole concentrations of 0.09 to 0.13 per planar Cu ion. The intensity and correlation length of the fluctuation signal increase strongly upon cooling down to the superconducting transition temperature (T c ); further cooling below T c abruptly reverses the divergence of the charge correlations. In combination with earlier observations of a large gap in the spin excitation spectrum, these data indicate an incipient charge density wave instability that competes with superconductivity.
The explanation and control of phase transitions remain cornerstones of contemporary physics. Landau provided an invaluable insight into the thermodynamics of complex systems by formulating their ...phase transitions in terms of an order parameter. Within this formulation, continuous evolution of the order parameter away from zero classifies the phase transition as second-order, whereas a discontinuous change signals a first-order transition. Here we show that the temperature-tuned insulator–metal transition in the prototypical correlated electron system NdNiO3 defies this established binary classification. By harnessing a nanoscale optical probe of the local electronic conductivity, we reveal two physically distinct yet concurrent phase transitions in epitaxial NdNiO3 films. Whereas the sample bulk exhibits a first-order transition between metal and insulator phases, we resolve anomalous nanoscale domain walls in the insulating state that undergo a distinctly continuous insulator–metal transition, with hallmarks of second-order behaviour. We ascribe these domain walls to boundaries between antiferromagnetically ordered domains within the charge ordered bulk. The close correspondence of these observations to predictions from a Landau theory of coupled charge and magnetic orders highlights the importance of coupled order parameters in driving the complex phase transition in NdNiO3.
We used resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) with and without analysis of the scattered photon polarization, to study dispersive spin excitations in the high temperature superconductor ...YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{6+x} over a wide range of doping levels (0.1≤x≤1). The excitation profiles were carefully monitored as the incident photon energy was detuned from the resonant condition, and the spin excitation energy was found to be independent of detuning for all x. These findings demonstrate that the largest fraction of the spin-flip RIXS profiles in doped cuprates arises from magnetic collective modes, rather than from incoherent particle-hole excitations as recently suggested theoretically Benjamin et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 247002 (2014). Implications for the theoretical description of the electron system in the cuprates are discussed.
In the underdoped regime, the cuprate high-temperature superconductors exhibit a host of unusual collective phenomena, including unconventional spin and charge density modulations, Fermi surface ...reconstructions, and a pseudogap in various physical observables. Conversely, overdoped cuprates are generally regarded as conventional Fermi liquids possessing no collective electronic order. In partial contradiction to this widely held picture, we report resonant X-ray scattering measurements revealing incommensurate charge order reflections for overdoped (Bi,Pb)2.12Sr1.88CuO6+δ (Bi2201), with correlation lengths of 40–60 lattice units, that persist up to temperatures of at least 250 K. The value of the charge order wavevector decreases with doping, in line with the extrapolation of the trend previously observed in underdoped Bi2201. In overdoped materials, however, charge order coexists with a single, unreconstructed Fermi surface without nesting or pseudogap features. The discovery of re-entrant charge order in Bi2201 thus calls for investigations in other cuprate families and for a reconsideration of theories that posit an essential relationship between these phenomena.
Electronic inhomogeneity appears to be an inherent characteristic of the enigmatic cuprate superconductors. Here we report the observation of charge-density-wave correlations in the model cuprate ...superconductor HgBa2 CuO4+δ (Tc =72 K) via bulk Cu L3 -edge-resonant X-ray scattering. At the measured hole-doping level, both the short-range charge modulations and Fermi-liquid transport appear below the same temperature of about 200 K. Our result points to a unifying picture in which these two phenomena are preceded at the higher pseudogap temperature by q=0 magnetic order and the build-up of significant dynamic antiferromagnetic correlations. The magnitude of the charge modulation wave vector is consistent with the size of the electron pocket implied by quantum oscillation and Hall effect measurements for HgBa2 CuO4+δ and with corresponding results for YBa2 Cu3 O6+δ , which indicates that charge-density-wave correlations are universally responsible for the low-temperature quantum oscillation phenomenon.
Incommensurate charge order (CO) has been identified as the leading competitor of high-temperature superconductivity in all major families of layered copper oxides, but the perplexing variety of CO ...states in different cuprates has confounded investigations of its impact on the transport and thermodynamic properties. The three-dimensional (3D) CO observed in YBa2Cu3O6+x in high magnetic fields is of particular interest, because quantum transport measurements have revealed detailed information about the corresponding Fermi surface. Here we use resonant X-ray scattering to demonstrate 3D-CO in underdoped YBa2Cu3O6+x films grown epitaxially on SrTiO3 in the absence of magnetic fields. The resonance profiles indicate that Cu sites in the charge-reservoir layers participate in the CO state, and thus efficiently transmit CO correlations between adjacent CuO2 bilayer units. The results offer fresh perspectives for experiments elucidating the influence of 3D-CO on the electronic properties of cuprates without the need to apply high magnetic fields.
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