Detection of acoustic plasmons in hole-doped lanthanum and bismuth cuprate superconductors using resonant inelastic X-ray scattering

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.257002

Authors: A. Nag (Diamond Light Source) , M. Zhu (University of Bristol) , M. Bejas (Ingeniería y Agrimensura and Instituto de Física de Rosario (UNR-CONICET)) , J. Li (Diamond Light Source; Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences) , H. C. Robarts (Diamond Light Source; University of Bristol) , H. Yamase (National Institute for Materials Science, Japan; Hokkaido University) , A. N. Petsch (University of Bristol) , D. Song (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)) , H. Eisaki (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)) , A. C. Walters (Diamond Light Source) , M. Garcia-fernandez (Diamond Light Source) , A. Greco (Ingeniería y Agrimensura and Instituto de Física de Rosario (UNR-CONICET)) , S. M. Hayden (University of Bristol) , K. Zhou (Diamond Light Source)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Physical Review Letters , VOL 125

State: Published (Approved)
Published: December 2020
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 20709

Abstract: High T c superconductors show a rich variety of phases associated with their charge degrees of freedom. Valence charges can give rise to charge ordering or acoustic plasmons in these layered cuprate superconductors. While charge ordering has been observed for both hole- and electron-doped cuprates, acoustic plasmons have only been found in electron-doped materials. Here, we use resonant inelastic x-ray scattering to observe the presence of acoustic plasmons in two families of hole-doped cuprate superconductors ( La 1.84 Sr 0.16 CuO 4 and Bi 2 Sr 1.6 La 0.4 CuO 6 + δ ), crucially completing the picture. Interestingly, in contrast to the quasistatic charge ordering which manifests at both Cu and O sites, the observed acoustic plasmons are predominantly associated with the O sites, revealing a unique dichotomy in the behavior of valence charges in hole-doped cuprates.

Subject Areas: Materials, Physics


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

Documents:
PhysRevLett.125.257002.pdf