Sixfold enhancement of superconductivity in a tunable electronic nematic system

Abstract

The electronic nematic phase, wherein electronic degrees of freedom lower the crystal rotational symmetry, is a common motif across a number of high-temperature superconductors. However, understanding the role and influence of nematicity and nematic fluctuations in Cooper pairing is often complicated by the coexistence of other orders, particularly long-range magnetic order. Here we report the enhancement of superconductivity in a model electronic nematic system absent of magnetism, and show that the enhancement is directly born out of strong nematic fluctuations emanating from a tuned quantum phase transition. We use elastoresistance measurements of the Ba${}_{1-x}$Sr${}_x$Ni${}_2$As${}_2$ substitution series to show that strontium substitution promotes an electronically driven $B_{1g}$ nematic order in this system, and that the complete suppression of that order to absolute zero temperature evokes a dramatic enhancement of the pairing strength, as evidenced by a sixfold increase in the superconducting transition temperature. The direct relation between enhanced pairing and nematic fluctuations in this model system, as well as the interplay with a unidirectional charge density wave order comparable to that found in the cuprates, offers a means to elucidate the role of nematicity in boosting superconductivity.

arXiv comment16 pages, 15 figures

References in corpus (37)

• The Puzzle of High Temperature Superconductivity in Layered Iron Pnictides and Chalcogenides
• Superconductivity in Iron Compounds
• High-temperature superconductivity in iron-based materials
• Electronic Liquid Crystal Phases of a Doped Mott Insulator
• Nematic order in iron superconductors - who is in the driver's seat?
• Divergent nematic susceptibility in an iron arsenide superconductor
• Electronic liquid crystal state in the high-temperature superconductor YBCO(6.45)
• Lattice symmetry breaking in cuprate superconductors: Stripes, nematics, and superconductivity
• Preemptive nematic order, pseudogap, and orbital order in the iron pnictides
• Pressure-induced volume-collapsed tetragonal phase of CaFe2As2 as seen via neutron scattering
• Ubiquitous signatures of nematic quantum criticality in optimally doped Fe-based superconductors
• Enhancement of superconductivity near a nematic quantum critical point
• Are non-Fermi-liquids stable to Cooper pairing?
• Quenched disorder and vestigial nematicity in the pseudo-gap regime of the cuprates
• Thermodynamic evidence for nematic phase transition at the onset of pseudogap in YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_y$
• Nematic quantum critical point without magnetism in FeSe1-xSx superconductors
• Superconductivity and non-Fermi liquid behavior near a nematic quantum critical point
• Structural collapse and superconductivity in rare earth-doped CaFe2As2
• First Order Phase Transition and Superconductivity in BaNi2As2 Single Crystals
• Elaboration of the alpha-Model Derived from the BCS Theory of Superconductivity
• Superconductivity in SrNi2As2 Single Crystals
• Structure and Anisotropic Properties of BaFe2-xNixAs2 (x = 0, 1, 2) Single Crystals
• Interplay of magnetic and structural transitions in Fe-based pnictide superconductors
• Density functional study of BaNi${}_2$As${}_2$: Electronic structure, phonons and electron-phonon superconductivity
• Suppression of electronic correlations by chemical pressure from FeSe to FeS
• Scaling between magnetic and lattice fluctuations in iron-pnictide superconductors
• Nematicity in stripe ordered cuprates probed via resonant x-ray scattering
• Giant Phonon Softening and Enhancement of Superconductivity by Phosphorus Doping of BaNi2As2
• Low-temperature magneto-thermal transport investigation of a Ni-based superconductor BaNi2As2: Evidence for fully gapped superconductivity
• Superconductivity in FeSe thin films driven by the interplay between nematic fluctuations and spin-orbit coupling
• Unconventional Charge Density Wave Order in the Pnictide Superconductor Ba(Ni${}_{1-x}$Co${}_x$)${}_2$As${}_2$
• Symmetry constraints on the elastoresistivity tensor
• Measurement of the $B_{1g}$ and $B_{2g}$ components of the elastoresistivity tensor for tetragonal materials via transverse resistivity configurations
• Compact AC Susceptometer for Fast Sample Characterization down to 0.1 K
• Evolution of Structure and Superconductivity in Ba(Ni${}_{1-x}$Co${}_x$)${}_2$As${}_2$
• Zigzag chain structure transition and orbital fluctuations in Ni-based superconductors
• Copper Doping of BaNi${}_2$As${}_2$: Giant Phonon Softening and Superconductivity Enhancement

Cited by in corpus (43)

• Theory of the charge-density wave in $A$V${}_3$Sb${}_5$ kagome metals
• Pure nematic quantum critical point accompanied by a superconducting dome
• Spin-excitation anisotropy in the nematic state of detwinned FeSe
• Multiple charge density waves and superconductivity nucleation at antiphase domain walls in the nematic pnictide Ba${}_{1-x}$Sr${}_x$Ni${}_2$As${}_2$
• An Electronic Nematic Liquid in BaNi${}_2$As${}_2$
• Tiny Sc allows the chains to rattle: Impact of Lu and Y doping on the charge density wave in ScV${}_6$Sn${}_6$
• Resistivity near a nematic quantum critical point: Impact of acoustic phonons
• Elastoresistivity in the incommensurate charge density wave phase of BaNi${}_{\text{2}}$(As${}_{\text{1-x}}$P${}_{\text{x}}$)${}_{\text{2}}$
• Soft-phonon and charge-density-wave formation in nematic BaNi${}_2$As${}_2$
• Evolution of the nematic susceptibility in LaFe${}_{1-x}$Co${}_x$AsO
• Enhanced superconducting pairing strength near a nonmagnetic nematic quantum critical point
• Rotational symmetry breaking at the incommensurate charge-density-wave transition in Ba(Ni,Co)${}_2$(As,P)${}_2$: Possible nematic phase induced by charge/orbital fluctuations
• Emerging symmetric strain response and weakening nematic fluctuations in strongly hole-doped iron-based superconductors
• Phonon softening and slowing down of charge-density-wave fluctuations in BaNi${}_2$As${}_2$
• Lattice-Shifted Nematic Quantum Critical Point in FeSe${}_{1-x}$S${}_x$
• Inter-orbital nematicity and the origin of a single electron Fermi pocket in FeSe
• Emergent Tetragonality in a Fundamentally Orthorhombic Material
• Tests of nematic-mediated superconductivity applied to Ba${}_{1-x}$Sr${}_x$Ni${}_2$As${}_2$
• Precursor phase with full phonon softening above the charge-density-wave phase transition in $2H$-TaSe${}_2$
• Potential Lifshitz transition at optimal substitution in nematic pnictide Ba${}_{1-x}$Sr${}_x$Ni${}_2$As${}_2$
• Piezoresistivity as a Fingerprint of Ferroaxial Transitions
• Real-space Observation of Unidirectional Charge Density Wave and Complex Structural Modulation in the Pnictide Superconductor Ba${}_{1-x}$Sr${}_x$Ni${}_2$As${}_2$
• Complex structure due to As bonding and interplay with electronic structure in superconducting BaNi2As2
• Random-strain-induced correlations in materials with intertwined nematic and magnetic orders
• The high-pressure phase diagram of BaNi${}_2$As${}_2$: unconventional charge-density-waves and structural phase transitions
• Spectral Evidence for Unidirectional Charge Density Wave in Detwinned BaNi${}_2$As${}_2$
• On the size of superconducting islands on the density-wave background in organic metals
• Enhancement of superconductivity by electronic nematicity in cuprate superconductors
• The role of electromagnetic gauge-field fluctuations in the selection between chiral and nematic superconductivity
• Nematic order driven by superconducting correlations
• Characteristic energy of the nematic-order state and its connection to enhancement of superconductivity in cuprate superconductors
• Strong electron-phonon coupling in Ba${}_{1-x}$Sr${}_x$Ni${}_2$As${}_2$
• Charge Order Evolution of Superconducting BaNi2As2 Under High Pressure
• A Ginzburg-Landau approach to the vortex-domain wall interaction in superconductors with nematic order
• Absence of precursor incommensurate charge order in electronic nematic Ba0.35Sr0.65Ni2As2
• Chemical pressure tuning of competing orders in ${\text{Ba}}_{1-x}{\text{Ca}}_x{\text{Ni}}_2{\text{As}}_2$
• Nematic fluctuations mediated superconductivity revealed by anisotropic strain in Ba(Fe${}_{1-x}$Co${}_x$)${}_2$As${}_2$
• Charge density waves and soft phonon evolution in the superconductor BaNi${}_2$(As${}_{1-x}$P${}_x$)${}_2$
• Orbital Ordering in the Charge Density Wave Phases of BaNi${}_2$(As${}_{1-x}$P${}_x$)${}_2$
• Electromagnetic response of cuprate superconductors with coexisting electronic nematicity
• Energy-Resolved Real-Space Imaging of Orbital Nematicity in an Fe-Based Superconductor
• Superconductivity near an Ising nematic quantum critical point in two dimensions
• Tuning Incommensurate Charge Order in Ba${}_{1-x}$Sr${}_x$Al${}_4$ and Ba${}_{1-y}$Eu${}_y$Al${}_4$