Critical nematic correlations throughout the superconducting doping range in Bi2-zPbzSr2-yLayCuO6+x

Can-Li Song; Elizabeth J Main; Forrest Simmons; Shuo Liu; Benjamin Phillabaum; Karin A Dahmen; Eric W Hudson; Jennifer E Hoffman; Erica W Carlson

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-38249-3

Critical nematic correlations throughout the superconducting doping range in Bi_2-zPb_zSr_2-yLa_yCuO_6+x

Nat Commun. 2023 May 5;14(1):2622. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-38249-3.

Authors

Can-Li Song¹, Elizabeth J Main¹, Forrest Simmons^{2

3}, Shuo Liu², Benjamin Phillabaum², Karin A Dahmen⁴, Eric W Hudson⁵, Jennifer E Hoffman⁶, Erica W Carlson^{7

8}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
² Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA.
³ Purdue Quantum Science and Engineering Institute, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA.
⁴ Department of Physics, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, 61801, USA.
⁵ Department of Physics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
⁶ Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA. jhoffman@physics.harvard.edu.
⁷ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA. ewcarlson@physics.purdue.edu.
⁸ Purdue Quantum Science and Engineering Institute, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA. ewcarlson@physics.purdue.edu.

Abstract

Charge modulations have been widely observed in cuprates, suggesting their centrality for understanding the high-T_c superconductivity in these materials. However, the dimensionality of these modulations remains controversial, including whether their wavevector is unidirectional or bidirectional, and also whether they extend seamlessly from the surface of the material into the bulk. Material disorder presents severe challenges to understanding the charge modulations through bulk scattering techniques. We use a local technique, scanning tunneling microscopy, to image the static charge modulations on Bi_2-zPb_zSr_2-yLa_yCuO_6+x. The ratio of the phase correlation length ξ_CDW to the orientation correlation length ξ_orient points to unidirectional charge modulations. By computing new critical exponents at free surfaces including that of the pair connectivity correlation function, we show that these locally 1D charge modulations are actually a bulk effect resulting from classical 3D criticality of the random field Ising model throughout the entire superconducting doping range.

Abstract

Grants and funding