Unconventional charge order in a co-doped high-Tc superconductor.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 27605152.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms12775 and PMC identifier 5025527.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
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.