Unconventional electronic order in a codoped high-Tc superconductor

Abstract

Charge stripe order has recently been established as an important ingredient of the physics of cuprate high-T${}_c$ superconductors. However, due to the complex interplay between competing phases and the influence of disorder, it is unclear how it emerges from the parent metallic state. Here we report on the discovery of an unconventional electronic ordered phase between charge-stripe order and (pseudogapped) metal in the cuprate La${}_{2-x-y}$Eu${}_y$Sr${}_x$CuO${}_4$ with $y=0.2$ (LESCO). The peculiar properties of the intermediate phase are revealed through three complementary experiments: nuclear quadrupole resonance, nonlinear conductivity, and specific heat. We demonstrate that the order appears through a sharp phase transition, and exists in a dome-shaped region of the phase diagram, similar to charge stripes. A comparison to recent theoretical work shows that the order is a state without broken translational symmetry -- a charge nematic. We thus resolve the complex process of charge stripe development in cuprates, show that the nematic phase is unrelated to high-temperature pseudogap physics, and establish a link with other strongly correlated electronic materials where nematic order is prominent.

7 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (18)

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• Magnetic field induced anisotropy of ${}^{139}\mathrm{La}$ spin-lattice relaxation rates in stripe ordered ${\mathrm{La}}_{1.875}{\mathrm{Ba}}_{0.125}{\mathrm{CuO}}_4$
• Antagonistic in-plane resistivity anisotropies from competing fluctuations in underdoped cuprates
• Contactless measurement of nonlinear conductivity in the radio-frequency range

Cited by in corpus (11)

• Emergence of superconductivity in the cuprates via a universal percolation process
• Vestigial nematicity from spin and/or charge order in the cuprates
• Diversity of charge orderings in correlated systems
• Extended Falicov-Kimball model: Exact solution for finite temperatures
• Cu nuclear magnetic resonance study of charge and spin stripe order in La${}_{1.875}$Ba${}_{0.125}$CuO${}_4$
• Extended Falicov-Kimball model: exact solution for the ground state
• Collective Dynamics and Strong Pinning near the Onset of Charge Order in La${}_{1.48}$Nd${}_{0.4}$Sr${}_{0.12}$CuO${}_4$
• Superconductivity and intra-unit-cell electronic nematic phase in the three-band model of cuprates
• Extended Falicov-Kimball model: Hartree-Fock vs DMFT approach
• Stability of the coexistent superconducting-nematic phase under the presence of intersite interactions
• Uniaxial stress study of spin and charge stripes in La${}_{1.875}$Ba${}_{0.125}$CuO${}_4$ by ${}^{139}$La NMR and ${}^{63}$Cu NQR