Nematicity has emerged as a key feature of cuprate superconductors, but its link to other fundamental properties such as superconductivity, charge order and the pseudogap remains unclear. Here we use measurements of transport anisotropy in YBa$_2$Cu$
_3$O$_y$ to distinguish two types of nematicity. The first is associated with short-range charge-density-wave modulations in a doping region near $p = 0.12$. It is detected in the Nernst coefficient, but not in the resistivity. The second type prevails at lower doping, where there are spin modulations but no charge modulations. In this case, the onset of in-plane anisotropy - detected in both the Nernst coefficient and the resistivity - follows a line in the temperature-doping phase diagram that tracks the pseudogap energy. We discuss two possible scenarios for the latter nematicity.
Cuprate superconductors have a universal tendency to form charge density-wave (CDW) order which competes with superconductivity and is strongest at a doping $p simeq 0.12$. Here we show that in the archetypal cuprate YBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{y}$ (YBCO) p
ressure suppresses charge order, but does not affect the pseudogap phase. This is based on transport measurements under pressure, which reveal that the onset of the pseudogap at $T^*$ is independent of pressure, while the negative Hall effect, a clear signature of CDW order in YBCO, is suppressed by pressure. We also find that pressure and magnetic field shift the superconducting transition temperature $T_{rm c}$ of YBCO in the same way as a function of doping - but in opposite directions - and most effectively at $p simeq 0.12$. This shows that the competition between superconductivity and CDW order can be tuned in two ways, either by suppressing superconductivity with field or suppressing CDW order by pressure. Based on existing high-pressure data and our own work, we observe that when CDW order is fully suppressed at high pressure, the so-called 1/8 anomaly in the superconducting dome vanishes, revealing a smooth $T_{rm c}$ dome which now peaks at $p simeq 0.13$. We propose that this $T_{rm c}$ dome is shaped by the competing effects of the pseudogap phase below its critical point $p^{star} sim 0.19$ and spin order at low doping.
Recent studies of the high-Tc superconductor La_(1.6-x)Nd_(0.4)Sr_(x)CuO_(4) (Nd-LSCO) have found a linear-T in-plane resistivity rho_(ab) and a logarithmic temperature dependence of the thermopower S / T at a hole doping p = 0.24, and a Fermi-surfac
e reconstruction just below p = 0.24 [1, 2]. These are typical signatures of a quantum critical point (QCP). Here we report data on the c-axis resistivity rho_(c)(T) of Nd-LSCO measured as a function of temperature near this QCP, in a magnetic field large enough to entirely suppress superconductivity. Like rho_(ab), rho_(c) shows an upturn at low temperature, a signature of Fermi surface reconstruction caused by stripe order. Tracking the height of the upturn as it decreases with doping enables us to pin down the precise location of the QCP where stripe order ends, at p* = 0.235 +- 0.005. We propose that the temperature T_(rho) below which the upturn begins marks the onset of the pseudogap phase, found to be roughly twice as high as the stripe ordering temperature in this material.
