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Murayama H, Sato Y, Kurihara R, Kasahara S, Mizukami Y, Kasahara Y, Uchiyama H, Yamamoto A, Moon EG, Cai J, Freyermuth J, Greven M, Shibauchi T, Matsuda Y. Diagonal nematicity in the pseudogap phase of HgBa 2CuO 4+δ. Nat Commun 2019; 10:3282. [PMID: 31337758 PMCID: PMC6650423 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11200-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2018] [Accepted: 06/27/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The pseudogap phenomenon in the cuprates is arguably the most mysterious puzzle in the field of high-temperature superconductivity. The tetragonal cuprate HgBa2CuO4+δ, with only one CuO2 layer per primitive cell, is an ideal system to tackle this puzzle. Here, we measure the magnetic susceptibility anisotropy within the CuO2 plane with exceptionally high-precision magnetic torque experiments. Our key finding is that a distinct two-fold in-plane anisotropy sets in below the pseudogap temperature T*, which provides thermodynamic evidence for a nematic phase transition with broken four-fold symmetry. Surprisingly, the nematic director orients along the diagonal direction of the CuO2 square lattice, in sharp contrast to the bond nematicity along the Cu-O-Cu direction. Another remarkable feature is that the enhancement of the diagonal nematicity with decreasing temperature is suppressed around the temperature at which short-range charge-density-wave formation occurs. Our result suggests a competing relationship between diagonal nematic and charge-density-wave order in HgBa2CuO4+δ.
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Affiliation(s)
- H Murayama
- Department of Physics, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan
| | - Y Sato
- Department of Physics, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan
| | - R Kurihara
- Department of Physics, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan
| | - S Kasahara
- Department of Physics, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan
| | - Y Mizukami
- Department of Advanced Materials Science, University of Tokyo, Chiba, 277-8561, Japan
| | - Y Kasahara
- Department of Physics, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan
| | - H Uchiyama
- Materials Dynamics Laboratory, RIKEN SPring-8 Center, 1-1-1 Kouto, Sayo, Hyogo, 679-5148, Japan.,Research and Utilization Division, Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (SPring-8/JASRI), 1-1-1 Kouto, Sayo, Hyogo, 679-5198, Japan
| | - A Yamamoto
- Graduate School of Engineering and Science, Shibaura Institute of Technology, 3-7-5 Toyosu, Koto-ku, Tokyo, 135-8584, Japan
| | - E-G Moon
- Department of Physics, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 305-701, Korea
| | - J Cai
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA.,Physics Department, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742-4111, USA
| | - J Freyermuth
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA.,Department of Physics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210-1117, USA
| | - M Greven
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA
| | - T Shibauchi
- Department of Advanced Materials Science, University of Tokyo, Chiba, 277-8561, Japan
| | - Y Matsuda
- Department of Physics, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan.
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