Polar Kerr Effect Measurements of YBa2Cu3O6+x: Evidence for Broken Symmetry Near the Pseudogap Temperature

Abstract

Polar Kerr effect in the high-Tc superconductor \YBCO was measured at zero magnetic field with high precision using a cyogenic Sagnac fiber interferometer. We observed non-zero Kerr rotations of order $\sim 1\mu$rad appearing near the pseudogap temperature $T^{\ast }$, and marking what appears to be a true phase transition. Anomalous magnetic behavior in magnetic-field training of the effect suggests that time reversal symmetry is already broken above room temperature.

4 pages, 5 figures, submitting to PRL

References in corpus (3)

• High Resolution Polar Kerr Effect Measurements of Sr2RuO4: Evidence for Broken Time Reversal Symmetry in the Superconducting State
• Magnetic order in the pseudogap phase of high-$T_C$ superconductors
• Modified Sagnac interferometer for high-sensitivity magneto-optic measurements atcryogenic temperatures

Cited by in corpus (20)

• Theory of Electron Nematic Order in LaOFeAs
• Lattice symmetry breaking in cuprate superconductors: Stripes, nematics, and superconductivity
• Striped superconductors: How the cuprates intertwine spin, charge and superconducting orders
• Pairing State with a time-reversal symmetry breaking in FeAs based superconductors
• Planar metamaterial with transmission and reflection that depend on the direction of incidence
• Orbital currents in extended Hubbard models of high-T${}_c$ cuprates
• Time-Reversal Symmetry Breaking and Spontaneous Anomalous Hall Effect in Fermi Fluids
• Frequency and temperature dependence of the anomalous Hall conductivity in a chiral px+ipy superconductor with impurities
• Absence of time reversal symmetry breaking in La_{2-x}Sr_{x}CuO_{4}
• Time-reversal symmetry breaking by a $(d+id)$ density-wave state in underdoped cuprate superconductors
• Anomalous Nernst effect from a chiral d-density wave state in underdoped cuprate superconductors
• Inhomogeneous Magnetic-Field Response of YBa2Cu3Oy and La2-xSrxCuO4 Persisting above the Bulk Superconducting Transition Temperature
• Superconducting electronic state in optimally doped YBa2Cu3O7-d observed with laser-excited angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy
• The pseudogap ground state in high temperature superconductors
• Meissner effect without superconductivity from a chiral d-density wave
• Uncovering a pressure-tuned electronic transition in BiSrYCu2O8 using Raman scattering and x-ray diffraction
• Competing orders and the doping and momentum dependent quasiparticle excitations in cuprate superconductors
• Sagnac interference in Carbon nanotubes
• Weak Ferromagnetism Accompanying Loop current order in Underdoped Cuprates
• Nature of the enigmatic pseudogap state: novel magnetic order in superconducting HgBa2CuO4+d