Nematicity and Charge Order in Superoxygenated ${\mathrm{La}}_{2\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Sr}}_{x}{\mathrm{CuO}}_{4+y}$

Nematicity and Charge Order in Superoxygenated ${La}_{2 - x} {Sr}_{x} {CuO}_{4 + y}$

Zhiwei Zhang, R. Sutarto, F. He, F. C. Chou, L. Udby, S. L. Holm, Z. H. Zhu, W. A. Hines, J. I. Budnick, and B. O. Wells

Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 067602 – Published 8 August 2018

Abstract

In this Letter, we report a resonant x-ray scattering measurement of stripelike charge order in the 1/8th doped component of electronically phase-separated, orthorhombic ${La}_{2} {CuO}_{4 + y}$ . This observation is coupled to the absence of any resonant (001) peak, which at different resonant energies has been identified with the presence of low-temperature-tetragonal-like structural tilt patterns or nematicity in the CuO planes. Thus, we provide evidence that structural pinning is not necessary for the formation of static charge stripes and that the relationship between charge nematicity and stripes may not be simple.

Received 2 October 2017
Revised 24 February 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.067602

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Charge order Nematic order

Cuprates

Resonant elastic x-ray scattering

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Zhiwei Zhang^1,†, R. Sutarto², F. He², F. C. Chou³, L. Udby⁴, S. L. Holm⁴, Z. H. Zhu⁵, W. A. Hines¹, J. I. Budnick¹, and B. O. Wells^1,*

¹Department of Physics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269, USA
²Canadian Light Source, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 2V3, Canada
³Center for Condensed Matter Sciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10670, Taiwan
⁴X-ray and Neutron Science, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
⁵Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA