Spectroscopic fingerprint of charge order melting driven by quantum fluctuations in a cuprate

DOI: 10.1038/s41567-020-0993-7

Authors: W. S. Lee (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory) , K. Zhou (Diamond Light Source; Swiss Light Source) , M. Hepting (Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory) , J. Li (Diamond Light Source) , A. Nag (Diamond Light Source) , A. C. Walters (Diamond Light Source) , M. Garcia-Fernandez (Diamond Light Source) , H. C. Robarts (Diamond Light Source) , M. Hashimoto (Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource) , H. Lu (Stanford University) , B. Nosarzewski (Stanford University) , D. Song (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)) , H. Eisaki (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)) , Z. X. Shen (Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory; Stanford University) , B. Moritz (Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory) , J. Zaanen (Leiden University) , T. P. Devereaux (Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory; Stanford University)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Nature Physics , VOL 518

State: Published (Approved)
Published: August 2020
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 18462

Abstract: Copper oxide high-TC superconductors possess a number of exotic orders that coexist with or are proximal to superconductivity. Quantum fluctuations associated with these orders may account for the unusual characteristics of the normal state, and possibly affect the superconductivity. Yet, spectroscopic evidence for such quantum fluctuations remains elusive. Here, we use resonant inelastic X-ray scattering to reveal spectroscopic evidence of fluctuations associated with a charge order in nearly optimally doped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ. In the superconducting state, while the quasielastic charge order signal decreases with temperature, the interplay between charge order fluctuations and bond-stretching phonons in the form of a Fano-like interference increases, an observation that is incompatible with expectations for competing orders. Invoking general principles, we argue that this behaviour reflects the properties of a dissipative system near an order–disorder quantum critical point, where the dissipation varies with the opening of the pseudogap and superconducting gap at low temperatures, leading to the proliferation of quantum critical fluctuations, which melt charge order.

Journal Keywords: Electronic properties and materials; Phase transitions and critical phenomena; Quantum fluids and solids; Superconducting properties and materials

Subject Areas: Materials, Physics


Instruments: I21-Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS)

Added On: 07/09/2020 09:49

Discipline Tags:

Superconductors Quantum Materials Hard condensed matter - electronic properties Physics Materials Science

Technical Tags:

Scattering Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS)