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Momentum-dependent charge correlations in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6+delta}$ superconductors probed by resonant x-ray scattering: Evidence for three competing phases

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 Added by Mathieu Le Tacon
 Publication date 2012
  fields Physics
and research's language is English




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We have used resonant x-ray scattering to determine the momentum dependent charge correlations in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6.55}$ samples with highly ordered chain arrays of oxygen acceptors (ortho-II structure). The results reveal nearly critical, biaxial charge density wave (CDW) correlations at in-plane wave vectors (0.315, 0) and (0, 0.325). The corresponding scattering intensity exhibits a strong uniaxial anisotropy. The CDW amplitude and correlation length are enhanced as superconductivity is weakened by an external magnetic field. Analogous experiments were carried out on a YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6.6}$ crystal with a dilute concentration of spinless (Zn) impurities, which had earlier been shown to nucleate incommensurate magnetic order. Compared to pristine crystals with the same doping level, the CDW amplitude and correlation length were found to be strongly reduced. These results indicate a three-phase competition between spin-modulated, charge-modulated, and superconducting states in underdoped YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6+delta}$.



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We report the results a comprehensive study of charge density wave (CDW) correlations in untwinned YBCO6+x single crystals with 0.4<x<0.99 using Cu-L3 edge resonant x-ray scattering (RXS). Evidence of CDW formation is found for 0.45<x<0.93, but not for samples with x<0.44 that exhibit incommensurate spin-density-wave order, and in slightly overdoped samples with x=0.99. This suggests the presence of two proximate zero-temperature CDW critical points at doping pc1~0.08 and pc2~0.18. The CDW reflections are observed at incommensurate in-plane wave vectors (d_a, 0) and (0, d_b). Both decrease linearly with increasing doping, in agreement with recent reports on Bi-based high-Tc superconductors, but in sharp contrast to the behavior of the 214 family. The CDW intensity and correlation length exhibit maxima at p~0.12, coincident with a plateau in the superconducting transition temperature Tc. The onset temperature of the CDW reflections depends non-monotonically on p, with a maximum of~160 K for p~0.12. The RXS reflections exhibit a uniaxial intensity anisotropy. We further observe a depression of CDW correlations upon cooling below Tc, and (for samples with p> 0.09) an enhancement of the signal when an external magnetic field up to 6 T is applied in the superconducting state. For samples with p~0.08, where prior work has revealed a field-enhancement of incommensurate magnetic order, the RXS signal is field-independent. This supports a previously suggested scenario in which incommensurate charge and spin orders compete against each other, in addition to individually competing against. We discuss the relationship of these results to stripe order 214, the pseudogap phenomenon, superconducting fluctuations, and quantum oscillations.
We report a comprehensive Cu L$_3$-edge resonant x-ray scattering study of two- and three-dimensional (2D and 3D) incommensurate charge correlations in single crystals of the underdoped high-temperature superconductor YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6.67}$ under uniaxial compression up to 1% along the two inequivalent Cu-O-Cu bond directions (a and b) in the CuO$_2$ planes. The pressure response of the 2D charge correlations is symmetric: pressure along a enhances correlations along b, and vice versa. Our results imply that the underlying order parameter is uniaxial. In contrast, 3D long-range charge order is only observed along b in response to compression along a. Spectroscopic resonant x-ray scattering measurements show that the 3D charge order resides exclusively in the CuO$_2$ planes and may thus be generic to the cuprates. We discuss implications of these results for models of electronic nematicity and for the interplay between charge order and superconductivity.
134 - A. J. Achkar , R. Sutarto , X. Mao 2012
Recently, charge density wave (CDW) order in the CuO$_2$ planes of underdoped YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6+delta}$ was detected using resonant soft x-ray scattering. An important question remains: is the chain layer responsible for this charge ordering? Here, we explore the energy and polarization dependence of the resonant scattering intensity in a detwinned sample of YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6.75}$ with ortho-III oxygen ordering in the chain layer. We show that the ortho-III CDW order in the chains is distinct from the CDW order in the planes. The ortho-III structure gives rise to a commensurate superlattice reflection at $Q$=[0.33 0 $L$] whose energy and polarization dependence agrees with expectations for oxygen ordering and a spatial modulation of the Cu valence in the chains. Incommensurate peaks at [0.30 0 $L$] and [0 0.30 $L$] from the CDW order in the planes are shown to be distinct in $Q$ as well as their temperature, energy, and polarization dependence, and are thus unrelated to the structure of the chain layer. Moreover, the energy dependence of the CDW order in the planes is shown to result from a spatial modulation of energies of the Cu 2$p$ to 3$d_{x^2-y^2}$ transition, similar to stripe-ordered 214 cuprates.
Polarized and unpolarized neutron diffraction has been used to search for magnetic order in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6+x}$ superconductors. Most of the measurements were made on a high quality crystal of YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6.6}$. It is shown that this crystal has highly ordered ortho-II chain order, and a sharp superconducting transition. Inelastic scattering measurements display a very clean spin-gap and pseudogap with any intensity at 10 meV being 50 times smaller than the resonance intensity. The crystal shows a complicated magnetic order that appears to have three components. A magnetic phase is found at high temperatures that seems to stem from an impurity with a moment that is in the $a$-$b$ plane, but disordered on the crystal lattice. A second ordering occurs near the pseudogap temperature that has a shorter correlation length than the high temperature phase and a moment direction that is at least partly along the c-axis of the crystal. Its moment direction, temperature dependence, and Bragg intensities suggest that it may stem from orbital ordering of the $d$-density wave (DDW) type. An additional intensity increase occurs below the superconducting transition. The magnetic intensity in these phases does not change noticeably in a 7 Tesla magnetic field aligned approximately along the c-axis. Searches for magnetic order in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7}$ show no signal while a small magnetic intensity is found in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6.45}$ that is consistent with c-axis directed magnetic order. The results are contrasted with other recent neutron measurements.
Intense laser pulses have recently emerged as a tool to tune between different orders in complex quantum materials. Among different light-induced phenomena, transient superconductivity far above the equilibrium transition temperature in cuprates is particularly attractive. Key to those experiments was the resonant pumping of specific phonon modes, which was believed to induce superconducting phase coherence by suppressing the competing orders or modifying the structure slightly. Here, we present a comprehensive study of photo-induced nonequilibrium response in underdoped YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6+x}$. We find that upon photo-excitations, Josephson plasma edge in superconducting state is initially removed accompanied by quasiparticle excitations, and subsequently reappears at frequency lower than the static plasma edge within short time. In normal state, an enhancement or weaker edge-like shape is indeed induced by pump pulses in the reflectance spectrum accompanied by simultaneous rises in both real and imaginary parts of conductivity. We compare the pump-induced effects between near- and mid-infrared excitations and exclude phonon pumping as a scenario for the photo-induced effects above. We further elaborate the transient responses in normal state are unlikely to be explained by photo-induced superconductivity.
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