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Fluctuating charge-density waves in a cuprate superconductor

Nature Materials volume 12, pages 387–391 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

Cuprate materials hosting high-temperature superconductivity (HTS) also exhibit various forms of charge and spin ordering1,2,3,4,5,6 whose significance is not fully understood7. So far, static charge-density waves8 (CDWs) have been detected by diffraction probes only at particular doping levels9,10,11 or in an applied external field12 . However, dynamic CDWs may also be present more broadly and their detection, characterization and relationship with HTS remain open problems. Here we present a method based on ultrafast spectroscopy to detect the presence and measure the lifetimes of CDW fluctuations in cuprates. In an underdoped La1.9Sr0.1CuO4 film (Tc = 26 K), we observe collective excitations of CDW that persist up to 100 K. This dynamic CDW fluctuates with a characteristic lifetime of 2 ps at T = 5 K that decreases to 0.5 ps at T = 100 K. In contrast, in an optimally doped La1.84Sr0.16CuO4 film (Tc = 38.5 K), we detect no signatures of fluctuating CDWs at any temperature, favouring the competition scenario. This work forges a path for studying fluctuating order parameters in various superconductors and other materials.

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Figure 1: Fluctuating density waves and their normal modes.
Figure 2: Raw data traces indicate the presence of coherent modes of the CDW in La2−xSrxCuO4 for x = 0.10 but not for x = 0.16.
Figure 3: Analysis of the amplitudon response as a function of temperature.
Figure 4: Analysis of the phason response as a function of temperature.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank S. Todadri, P. Lee and S. Kivelson for useful discussions. D.H.T., F.M. and N.G. were supported by NSF Career Award DMR-0845296. I.B. and A.T.B. were supported by the US Department of Energy, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division.

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  1. Darius H. Torchinsky and Fahad Mahmood: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA

    Darius H. Torchinsky, Fahad Mahmood & Nuh Gedik

  2. Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USA

    Anthony T. Bollinger & Ivan Božović

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  1. Darius H. Torchinsky
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Contributions

Experiments were performed by D.H.T. and F.M. The films were synthesized and characterized by A.T.B. and I.B. D.H.T. and F.M. performed the data analysis and wrote the initial draft of the manuscript. All authors participated in the understanding of the data and contributed to the final version of the manuscript. N.G. conceived and supervised the project.

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Correspondence to Darius H. Torchinsky, Fahad Mahmood or Nuh Gedik.

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Torchinsky, D., Mahmood, F., Bollinger, A. et al. Fluctuating charge-density waves in a cuprate superconductor. Nature Mater 12, 387–391 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3571

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