The properties of quantum materials are commonly tuned using experimental variables such as pressure, magnetic field and doping. Here we explore a different approach using irreversible, plastic ...deformation of single crystals. We show that compressive plastic deformation induces low-dimensional superconductivity well above the superconducting transition temperature (T
) of undeformed SrTiO
, with evidence of possible superconducting correlations at temperatures two orders of magnitude above the bulk T
. The enhanced superconductivity is correlated with the appearance of self-organized dislocation structures, as revealed by diffuse neutron and X-ray scattering. We also observe deformation-induced signatures of quantum-critical ferroelectric fluctuations and inhomogeneous ferroelectric order using Raman scattering. Our results suggest that strain surrounding the self-organized dislocation structures induces local ferroelectricity and quantum-critical dynamics that strongly influence T
, consistent with a theory of superconductivity enhanced by soft polar fluctuations. Our results demonstrate the potential of plastic deformation and dislocation engineering for the manipulation of electronic properties of quantum materials.
A pivotal challenge posed by unconventional superconductors is to unravel how superconductivity emerges upon cooling from the generally complex normal state. Here, we use nonlinear magnetic response, ...a probe that is uniquely sensitive to the superconducting precursor, to uncover remarkable universal behaviour in three distinct classes of oxide superconductors: strontium titanate, strontium ruthenate, and the cuprate high-T
materials. We find unusual exponential temperature dependence of the diamagnetic response above the transition temperature T
, with a characteristic temperature scale that strongly varies with T
. We correlate this scale with the sensitivity of T
to local stress and show that it is influenced by intentionally-induced structural disorder. The universal behaviour is therefore caused by intrinsic, self-organized structural inhomogeneity, inherent to the oxides' perovskite-based structure. The prevalence of such inhomogeneity has far-reaching implications for the interpretation of electronic properties of perovskite-related oxides in general.
The doped perovskite BaBiO
exhibits a maximum superconducting transition temperature (T
) of 34 K and was the first high-T
oxide to be discovered, yet pivotal questions regarding the nature of both ...the metallic and superconducting states remain unresolved. Although it is generally thought that superconductivity in the bismuthates is of the conventional s-wave type, the pairing mechanism is still debated, with strong electron-phonon coupling and bismuth valence or bond disproportionation possibly playing a role. Here we use diffuse x-ray scattering and Monte Carlo modeling to study the local structure of Ba
K
BiO
across its insulator-metal boundary. We find no evidence for either long- or short-range disproportionation, which resolves a major conundrum, as disproportionation and the related polaronic effects are likely not relevant for the metallic and superconducting states. Instead, we uncover nanoscale structural correlations that break inversion symmetry, with far-reaching implications for the electronic physics. This unexpected finding furthermore establishes that the bismuthates belong to the broader classes of materials with hidden spin-orbit coupling and a tendency towards inversion-breaking displacements.
Abstract
The interplay between structural and electronic degrees of freedom in complex materials is the subject of extensive debate in physics and materials science. Particularly interesting ...questions pertain to the nature and extent of pre-transitional short-range order in diverse systems ranging from shape-memory alloys to unconventional superconductors, and how this microstructure affects macroscopic properties. Here we use neutron and X-ray diffuse scattering to uncover universal structural fluctuations in La
2-x
Sr
x
CuO
4
and Tl
2
Ba
2
CuO
6+δ
, two cuprate superconductors with distinct point disorder effects and with optimal superconducting transition temperatures that differ by more than a factor of two. The fluctuations are present in wide doping and temperature ranges, including compositions that maintain high average structural symmetry, and they exhibit unusual, yet simple scaling behaviour. The scaling regime is robust and universal, similar to the well-known critical fluctuations close to second-order phase transitions, but with a distinctly different physical origin. We relate this behaviour to pre-transitional phenomena in a broad class of systems with structural and magnetic transitions, and propose an explanation based on rare structural fluctuations caused by intrinsic nanoscale inhomogeneity. We also uncover parallels with superconducting fluctuations, which indicates that the underlying inhomogeneity plays an important role in cuprate physics.
The discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in cuprates ranks among the major scientific milestones of the past half century, yet pivotal questions regarding the complex phase diagram of ...these materials remain unanswered. Generally thought of as doped charge-transfer insulators, these complex oxides exhibit pseudogap, strange-metal, superconducting, and Fermi liquid behavior with increasing hole-dopant concentration. Motivated by recent experimental observations, here we introduce a phenomenological model wherein exactly one hole per planar copper-oxygen unit is delocalized with increasing doping and temperature. The model is percolative in nature, with parameters that are highly consistent with experiments. It comprehensively captures key unconventional experimental results, including the temperature and the doping dependence of the pseudogap phenomenon, the strange-metal linear temperature dependence of the planar resistivity, and the doping dependence of the superfluid density. The success and simplicity of the model greatly demystify the cuprate phase diagram and point to a local superconducting pairing mechanism.
The perovskite rare-earth titanates are model Mott insulators with magnetic ground states that are very sensitive to structural distortions. These distortions couple strongly to the orbital degrees ...of freedom and, in principle, it should be possible to tune the superexchange and the magnetic transition with strain. We investigate the representative system (Y,La,Ca)TiO_{3}, which exhibits low crystallographic symmetry and no structural instabilities. From magnetic susceptibility measurements of the Curie temperature, we demonstrate direct, reversible, and continuous control of ferromagnetism by influencing the TiO_{6} octahedral tilts and rotations with uniaxial strain. The relative change in T_{C} as a function of strain is well described by ab initio calculations, which provides detailed understanding of the complex interactions among structural, orbital, and magnetic properties in rare-earth titanates. The demonstrated manipulation of octahedral distortions opens up far-reaching possibilities for investigations of electron-lattice coupling, competing ground states, and magnetic quantum phase transitions in a wide range of quantum materials.
Charge-stripe order has recently been established as an important aspect of cuprate high-Tc superconductors. However, owing to the complex interplay between competing phases and the influence of ...disorder, it is unclear how it emerges from the parent high-temperature state. Here we report on the discovery of an unconventional ordered phase between charge-stripe order and (pseudogapped) metal in the cuprate La1.8-xEu0.2SrxCuO4. We use three complementary experiments-nuclear quadrupole resonance, nonlinear conductivity and specific heat-to demonstrate that the order appears through a sharp phase transition and exists in a dome-shaped region of the phase diagram. Our results imply that the new phase is a state, which preserves translational symmetry: a charge nematic. We thus resolve the process of charge-stripe development in cuprates, show that this nematic phase is distinct from high-temperature pseudogap and establish a link with other strongly correlated electronic materials with prominent nematic order.
Abstract
The doped perovskite BaBiO
3
exhibits a maximum superconducting transition temperature (
T
c
) of 34 K and was the first high-
T
c
oxide to be discovered, yet pivotal questions regarding the ...nature of both the metallic and superconducting states remain unresolved. Although it is generally thought that superconductivity in the bismuthates is of the conventional
s
-wave type, the pairing mechanism is still debated, with strong electron-phonon coupling and bismuth valence or bond disproportionation possibly playing a role. Here we use diffuse x-ray scattering and Monte Carlo modeling to study the local structure of Ba
1-x
K
x
BiO
3
across its insulator-metal boundary. We find no evidence for either long- or short-range disproportionation, which resolves a major conundrum, as disproportionation and the related polaronic effects are likely not relevant for the metallic and superconducting states. Instead, we uncover nanoscale structural correlations that break inversion symmetry, with far-reaching implications for the electronic physics. This unexpected finding furthermore establishes that the bismuthates belong to the broader classes of materials with hidden spin-orbit coupling and a tendency towards inversion-breaking displacements.
We measure the nuclear quadrupole resonance signal on the Zn site in nearly optimally doped YBa2Cu3O6.92, when Cu is substituted by 3% of isotopically pure 67Zn. We observe that Zn creates large ...insulating islands, confirming two earlier conjectures: that doping provokes an orbital transition in the CuO2 plane, which is locally reversed by Zn substitution, and that the islands are antiferromagnetic. Also, we find that the Zn impurity locally induces a breaking of the D4 symmetry. Cluster and DFT calculations show that the D4 symmetry breaking is due to the same partial lifting of degeneracy of the nearest-neighbor oxygen sites as in the LTT transition in BaxCuO4, similarly well-known to strongly suppress superconductivity (SC). These results show that in-plane oxygen 2p5 orbital configurations are principally involved in the metallicity and SC of all high-Tc cuprates, and provide a qualitative symmetry-based constraint on the SC mechanism.
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