Charge degree of freedom and the single-spin fluid model in YBa2Cu4O8

Temperature-Independent Cuprate Pseudogap from Planar Oxygen NMR

Planar oxygen nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxation and shift data from all cuprate superconductors available in the literature are analyzed. They reveal a temperature-independent pseudogap at the Fermi surface, which increases with decreasing doping in family-specific ways, i.e., for some materials, the pseudogap is substantial at optimal doping while for others it is nearly closed at optimal doping. The states above the pseudogap, or in its absence are similar for all cuprates and doping levels, and Fermi liquid-like. If the pseudogap is assumed exponential it can be as large as about 1500 K for the most underdoped systems, relating it to the exchange coupling. The pseudogap can vary substantially throughout a material, being the cause of cuprate inhomogeneity in terms of charge and spin, so consequences for the NMR analyses are discussed. This pseudogap appears to be in agreement with the specific heat data measured for the YBaCuO family of materials, long ago. Nuclear relaxation and shift show deviations from this scenario near Tc, possibly due to other in-gap states.

Bulk Charge Ordering in the CuO2 Plane of the Cuprate Superconductor YBa2Cu3O6.9 by High-Pressure NMR

Cuprate superconductors still hold many open questions, and recently, the role of symmetry breaking electronic charge ordering resurfaced in underdoped cuprates as a phenomenon that competes with superconductivity. Here, unambiguous nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) proof is presented for the existence of local charge ordering in nearly optimally doped YBa2Cu3O6.9, even up to room temperature. Increasing pressure and decreasing temperature leads to the highest degree of order in the sense that the two oxygen atoms of the unit cell of the CuO2 plane develop a charge difference of about 0.02 holes, and order throughout the whole crystal. At ambient conditions, a slightly smaller charge difference and a decreased order is found. Evidence from literature data suggests that this charge ordering is ubiquitous to the CuO2 plane of all cuprates. Thus, the role of charge ordering in the cuprates must be reassessed.

Giant phonon anomaly associated with superconducting fluctuations in the pseudogap phase of cuprates

The pseudogap in underdoped cuprates leads to significant changes in the electronic structure, and was later found to be accompanied by anomalous fluctuations of superconductivity and certain lattice phonons. Here we propose that the Fermi surface breakup due to the pseudogap, leads to a breakup of the pairing order into two weakly coupled sub-band amplitudes, and a concomitant low energy Leggett mode due to phase fluctuations between them. This increases the temperature range of superconducting fluctuations containing an overdamped Leggett mode. In this range inter-sub-band phonons show strong damping due to resonant scattering into an intermediate state with a pair of overdamped Leggett modes. In the ordered state, the Leggett mode develops a finite energy, changing the anomalous phonon damping into an anomaly in the dispersion. This proposal explains the intrinsic connection between the anomalous pseudogap phase, enhanced superconducting fluctuations and giant anomalies in the phonon spectra.

The emergence of a giant phonon anomaly in the pseudogap phase of underdoped cuprate superconductors has been assumed to be a consequence of instability towards a charge density wave state. Here, the authors present a theory suggesting the anomaly arises due to large superconducting fluctuations.

Incipient charge order observed by NMR in the normal state of YBa2Cu3Oy

The pseudogap regime of high-temperature cuprates harbours diverse manifestations of electronic ordering whose exact nature and universality remain debated. Here, we show that the short-ranged charge order recently reported in the normal state of YBa2Cu3Oy corresponds to a truly static modulation of the charge density. We also show that this modulation impacts on most electronic properties, that it appears jointly with intra-unit-cell nematic, but not magnetic, order, and that it exhibits differences with the charge density wave observed at lower temperatures in high magnetic fields. These observations prove mostly universal, they place new constraints on the origin of the charge density wave and they reveal that the charge modulation is pinned by native defects. Similarities with results in layered metals such as NbSe2, in which defects nucleate halos of incipient charge density wave at temperatures above the ordering transition, raise the possibility that order-parameter fluctuations, but no static order, would be observed in the normal state of most cuprates if disorder were absent.