Single-domain stripe order in a high-temperature superconductor

• Published in: Communications physics Vol. 5; no. 1; pp. 1 - 7
• Main Authors: Simutis, Gediminas, Küspert, Julia, Wang, Qisi, Choi, Jaewon, Bucher, Damian, Boehm, Martin, Bourdarot, Frédéric, Bertelsen, Mads, Wang, Chennan N, Kurosawa, Tohru, Momono, Naoki, Oda, Migaku, Månsson, Martin, Sassa, Yasmine, Janoschek, Marc, Christensen, Niels B., Chang, Johan, Mazzone, Daniel G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 21.11.2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Research; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/766/119/1003; 639/766/119/997; 639/766/930; Condensed Matter; Coupling; Degrees of freedom; Electron spin; Electrons; External pressure; Focusing; High temperature superconductors; Materials Science; Mathematical models; Neutron scattering; Neutrons; Parameters; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Spin density waves; Strongly Correlated Electrons; Strontium 88; Tuning; Unconventional superconductivity
• ISSN: 2399-3650; 2399-3650
• DOI: 10.1038/s42005-022-01061-4

The coupling of spin, charge and lattice degrees of freedom results in the emergence of novel states of matter across many classes of strongly correlated electron materials. A model example is unconventional superconductivity, which is widely believed to arise from the coupling of electrons via spin excitations. In cuprate high-temperature superconductors, the interplay of charge and spin degrees of freedom is also reflected in a zoo of charge and spin-density wave orders that are intertwined with superconductivity. A key question is whether the different types of density waves merely coexist or are indeed directly coupled. Here we profit from a neutron scattering technique with superior beam-focusing that allows us to probe the subtle spin-density wave order in the prototypical high-temperature superconductor La 1.88 Sr 0.12 CuO 4 under applied uniaxial pressure to demonstrate that the two density waves respond to the external tuning parameter in the same manner. Our result shows that suitable models for high-temperature superconductivity must equally account for charge and spin degrees of freedom via uniaxial charge-spin stripe fluctuations. While it is widely believed that high-temperature superconductivity in cuprate materials arises from an intertwined interplay between charge and spin fluctuations, the microscopic coupling between charge and spin degrees of freedom still remains a mystery in these materials. Here, the authors profit from neutron scattering with superior beam focusing to probe the subtle spin-density wave order under uniaxial pressure, and demonstrate that charge and spin orders respond to the external tuning parameter in the same manner.