Magneto-optical signatures of a cascade of transitions in La${}_2-x$Ba${}_x$CuO${}_4$

Abstract

Recent experiments in the original cuprate high temperature superconductor, La${}_2-x$Ba${}_x$CuO${}_4$, have revealed a remarkable sequence of transitions [1]. Here we investigate such crystals with Kerr effect which is sensitive to time-reversal-symmetry breaking (TRSB). Concurrent birefringence measurements accurately locate the structural phase transitions from high-temperature tetragonal to low temperature orthorhombic, and then to lower temperature tetragonal, at which temperature a strong Kerr signal onsets. Hysteretic behavior of the Kerr signal suggests that TRSB occurs well above room temperature, an effect that was previously observed in high quality YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O$_{6+x} crystals [2].

5 pages, 4 figures

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Cited by in corpus (15)

• Theory of Intertwined Orders in High Temperature Superconductors
• Incipient charge order observed by NMR in the normal state of YBa2Cu3Oy
• Kerr effect as evidence of gyrotropic order in the cuprates
• Berry phase mechanism for optical gyrotropy in stripe-ordered cuprates
• Crisscrossed stripe order from interlayer tunneling in hole-doped cuprates
• Composite charge order in the pseudogap region of the cuprates
• Numerical exploration of spontaneous broken symmetries in multi-orbital Hubbard models
• Superconductivity above a quantum critical point in a metal -- gap closing vs gap filling, Fermi arcs, and pseudogap behavior
• A Scanning, All-Fiber Sagnac Interferometer for High Resolution Magneto-Optic Measurements at 820 nm
• Relationship of Time Reversal Symmetry Breaking with Optical Kerr Rotation
• Absence of the polar Kerr effect in the helical loop-current model [Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 047005 (2013)]
• Is the pseudogap a topological state?
• Polar Kerr effect from a time-reversal symmetry breaking unidirectional charge density wave
• Flux Phase in Bilayer $t-J$ Model
• Flux Phase in Bilayer $t-J$ Model: Time-Reversal Symmetry Breaking Surface State without Spontaneous Magnetic Field