No Arabic abstract
Each unit cell in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6+x}$ contains a pair of two-dimensional CuO$_2$ layers. While the crystal structure is globally inversion symmetric, the individual layers are not. This leads, necessarily, to a nonvanishing Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in the CuO$_2$ layers, with opposite signs of the coupling constant in each layer. These so-called Rashba bilayers generate hidden spin textures, with a vansishing net spin at each $k$-point in the Brillouin zone, but nonvanishing spin textures in each layer separately. Here, we trace the microscopic origin of the Rashba splitting through the orbital structure of the CuO$_2$ conduction bands, obtain a generic three-orbital model Hamiltonian, and show that the magnitude of the spin-splitting predicted by density functional theory is $sim 10$~meV.
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.
We present local optical measurements of thermal diffusivity in the $ab$ plane of underdoped YBCO crystals. We find that the diffusivity anisotropy is comparable to reported values of the electrical resistivity anisotropy, suggesting that the anisotropies have the same origin. The anisotropy drops sharply below the charge order transition. We interpret our results through a strong electron-phonon scattering picture and find that both electronic and phononic contributions to the diffusivity saturate a proposed bound. Our results suggest that neither well-defined electron nor phonon quasiparticles are present in this material.
The possibility of enhancing desirable functional properties of complex materials by optical driving is motivating a series of studies of their nonlinear terahertz response. In high-Tc cuprates, large amplitude excitation of certain infrared-active lattice vibrations has been shown to induce transient features in the reflectivity suggestive of non-equilibrium superconductivity. Yet, a microscopic mechanism for these observations is still lacking. Here, we report measurements of time- and scattering-angle-dependent second-harmonic generation in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6+x}$, taken under the same excitation conditions that result in superconductor-like terahertz reflectivity. We discover a three-order-of-magnitude amplification of a 2.5-terahertz electronic mode, which is unique because of its symmetry, momentum, and temperature dependence. A theory for parametric three-wave amplification of Josephson plasmons, which are assumed to be well-formed below T$_c$ but overdamped throughout the pseudogap phase, explains all these observations and provides a mechanism for non-equilibrium superconductivity. More broadly, our work underscores the role of parametric mode mixing to stabilize fluctuating orders in quantum materials.
We present results of Raman scattering experiments on tetragonal ${rm (Y_{1-y}Ca_{y})Ba_{2}Cu_{3}O_{6+x}}$ for doping levels $p(x,y)$ between 0 and 0.07 holes/CuO$_2$. Below the onset of superconductivity at $p_{rm sc1} approx 0.06$, we find evidence of a diagonal superstructure. At $p_{rm sc1}$, lattice and electron dynamics change discontinuously with the charge and spin properties being renormalized at all energy scales. The results indicate that charge ordering is intimately related to the transition at $p_{rm sc1}$ and that the maximal transition temperature to superconductivity at optimal doping $T_{c}^{rm max}$ depends on the type of ordering at $p>p_{rm sc1}$.
Polarized and unpolarized neutron triple-axis spectrometry was used to study the dynamical magnetic susceptibility $chi^{primeprime}({bf q},omega)$ as a function of energy ($hbaromega$) and wave vector (${bf q}$) in a wide temperature range for the bilayer superconductor YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6+x}$ with oxygen concentrations, $x$, of 0.45, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.93, and 0.95. The most prominent features in the magnetic spectra include a spin gap in the superconducting state, a pseudogap in the normal state, the much-discussed resonance, and incommensurate spin fluctuations below the resonance. We establish the doping dependence of the spin gap in the superconducting state, the resonance energy, and the incommensurability of the spin fluctuations. We discuss in detail the procedure used for separating the magnetic scattering from phonon and other spurious effects. In the comparison of our experimental results with various microscopic theoretical models, particular emphasis was made to address the similarities and differences in the spin fluctuations of YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6+x}$ and La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$.