Divergent nematic susceptibility near the pseudogap critical point in a cuprate superconductor

Abstract

Superconductivity is a quantum phenomenon caused by bound pairs of electrons. In diverse families of strongly correlated electron systems, the electron pairs are not bound together by phonon exchange but instead by some other kind of bosonic fluctuations. In these systems, superconductivity is often found near a magnetic quantum critical point (QCP) where a magnetic phase vanishes in the zero-temperature limit. Moreover, the maximum of superconducting transition temperature Tc frequently locates near the magnetic QCP, suggesting that the proliferation of critical spin fluctuations emanating from the QCP plays an important role in Cooper pairing. In cuprate superconductors, however, the superconducting dome is usually separated from the antiferromagnetic phase and Tc attains its maximum value near the verge of enigmatic pseudogap state that appears below doping-dependent temperature T*. Thus a clue to the pairing mechanism resides in the pseudogap and associated anomalous transport properties. Recent experiments suggested a phase transition at T*, yet, most importantly, relevant fluctuations associated with the pseudogap have not been identified. Here we report on direct observations of enhanced nematic fluctuations in (Bi,Pb)2Sr2CaCu2O8+d by elastoresistance measurements, which couple to twofold in-plane electronic anisotropy, i.e. electronic nematicity. The nematic susceptibility shows Curie-Weiss-like temperature dependence above T*, and an anomaly at T* evidences a second-order transition with broken rotational symmetry. Near the pseudogap end point, where Tc is not far from its peak in the superconducting dome, nematic susceptibility becomes singular and divergent, indicating the presence of a nematic QCP. This signifies quantum critical fluctuations of a nematic order, which has emerging links to the high-Tc superconductivity and strange metallic behaviours in cuprates.

arXiv comment6 pages, 5 figures

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Cited by in corpus (32)

• Exotic Superconducting States in FeSe-based Materials
• Nematic Fluctuations in the Cuprate Superconductor Bi${}_2$Sr${}_2$CaCu${}_2$O${}_{8+\delta }$
• Pure nematic quantum critical point accompanied by a superconducting dome
• Emergent XY electronic nematicity in iron-based superconductors
• Non-Fermi liquid transport in the vicinity of nematic quantum critical point of FeSe${}_{1-x}$S${}_x$ superconductor
• Vanishing nematic order beyond the pseudogap phase in overdoped cuprate superconductors
• Two superconducting states with broken time-reversal symmetry in FeSe1-xSx
• Elastoresistivity in the incommensurate charge density wave phase of BaNi${}_{\text{2}}$(As${}_{\text{1-x}}$P${}_{\text{x}}$)${}_{\text{2}}$
• Enhanced superconducting pairing strength near a nonmagnetic nematic quantum critical point
• Bond Directional Anapole Order in a Spin-Orbit Coupled Mott Insulator Sr${}_2$(Ir${}_{1-x}$Rh${}_x$)O${}_4$
• Odd-parity spin-loop-current order mediated by transverse spin fluctuations in cuprates and related electron systems
• Nematicity in the pseudogap state of cuprate superconductors revealed by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy
• Dominant in-plane symmetric elastoresistance in CsFe2As2
• Electronic nematicity in URu2Si2 revisited
• Discovery of Orbital Ordering in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x
• $d$- and $p$-wave quantum liquid crystal orders in cuprate superconductors, $\kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)${}_2$X, and coupled chain Hubbard models: functional-renormalization-group analysis
• Piezoresistivity as a Fingerprint of Ferroaxial Transitions
• Revised phase diagram of the high-$T_c$ cuprate superconductor Pb-doped Bi${}_2$Sr${}_2$CaCu${}_2$O${}_{8+\delta }$ revealed by anisotropic transport measurements
• Magnetic Impurity Effects on Ferromagnetic Fluctuations in Heavily Overdoped (Bi,Pb)${}_2$Sr${}_2$Cu${}_{1-y}$Fe${}_y$O${}_{6+\delta }$ Cuprates
• Prediction of pseudogap formation due to $d$-wave bond-order in organic superconductor $\kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)${}_2$X
• Correlation between unconventional superconductivity and strange metallicity revealed by operando superfluid density measurements
• Periodic Atomic Displacements and Visualization of the Electron-Lattice Interaction in the Cuprate
• Charge Transport in Ba${}_{1-x}$Rb${}_x$Fe${}_2$As${}_2$ Single Crystals
• Charge Order and Fluctuations in Bi${}_2$Sr${}_{2-x}$La${}_x$CuO${}_{6+\delta }$ Revealed by ${}^{63,65}$Cu-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
• Tracking the nematicity in cuprate superconductors: a resistivity study under uniaxial pressure
• Strong electron-phonon coupling in Ba${}_{1-x}$Sr${}_x$Ni${}_2$As${}_2$
• No nematicity at the onset temperature of the pseudogap phase in the cuprate superconductor YBCO
• Coherence Length of Electronic Nematicity in Iron-Based Superconductors
• Theory of anisotropic elastoresistivity of two-dimensional extremely strongly correlated metals
• Search for $Q\sim 0$ order near a forbidden Bragg position in Bi${}_{2.1}$Sr${}_{1.9}$CaCu${}_2$O${}_{8+x}$ with resonant soft x-ray scattering
• Superconductivity near an Ising nematic quantum critical point in two dimensions
• Energy-Resolved Real-Space Imaging of Orbital Nematicity in an Fe-Based Superconductor