Slow magnetic fluctuations in the pseudogap phase of YBa<sub>2</sub>Cu<sub>3</sub>O<sub>y</sub>

ORAL

Abstract

We report broken time-reversal symmetry in the pseudogap state of underdoped single crystalline YBa2Cu3Oy using muon spin relaxation technique. Slow magnetic fluctuations are observed below the characteristic pseudogap onset temperature T*, signaled by the Redfield relation between the Lorentzian relaxation rate of the positive muons and the applied field along the muon initial spin polarization. We measured the temperature dependence of the local field and compared it with the order parameter measured by neutron scattering. The slow frequency scale of the fluctuations, 5 orders of magnitude below the energy scale of the pseduogap energy, implies that time-reversal symmetry is broken for properties intermediate between the two scales, but raises the question of the nature of the quantum fluctuations responsible for time-reversal not being absolutely broken.

*This research was supported in part by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Nos.~2017YFA0303104 and 2016YFA0300503), the National Natural Science Foundation of China No. 11774061.

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Presenters

  • Jian Zhang

    • State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
    • Fudan University
    • State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, People’s Republic of China.

Authors

  • Jian Zhang

    • State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
    • Fudan University
    • State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, People’s Republic of China.

  • Douglas E. MacLaughlin

    • Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.

  • Zhaofeng Ding

    • State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
    • Fudan University
    • State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, People’s Republic of China.

  • Cheng Tan

    • State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
    • Fudan University
    • State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, People’s Republic of China.

  • Oscar Bernal

    • Physics Department, California State University, Los Angeles 90032
    • Department of Physics, California State University Los Angeles
    • Physics and Astronomy, California State University, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90032
    • Physics, California State University, Los Angeles
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, California State University, Los Angeles, CA 90032, USA.

  • Pei-Chun Ho

    • Department of Physics, California State University, Fresno, Fresno, CA 93740
    • California State University, Fresno
    • Physics, California State University, Fresno
    • Department of Physics, California State University, Fresno, CA 93740, USA.

  • Gerald D Morris

    • Center for Molecular and Materials Science, TRIUMF, Vancouver, BC V6T 2A3, Canada
    • Physical Sciences Division, TRIUMF
    • TRIUMF
    • TRIUMF, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2A3, Canada.

  • Akihiro Koda

    • Muon Science Laboratory and Condensed Matter Research Center, Institute of Materials Structure Science, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK)

  • Adrian Hillier

    • ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Science and Technology Facilities Council
    • ISIS Neutron and Muon Sources, Science & Technology Facilities Council
    • ISIS Facility, Science and Technology Facilities Council Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Chilton, Didcot OX11 0QX, UK.

  • Stephen P. Cottrell

    • Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory, ISIS Neutron and Muon Source
    • ISIS Facility, Science and Technology Facilities Council Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Chilton, Didcot OX11 0QX, UK.

  • Peter J. Baker

    • ISIS Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
    • ISIS Facility, Science and Technology Facilities Council Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Chilton, Didcot OX11 0QX, UK.

  • P. K. Biswas

    • ISIS Pulsed Neutron and Muon Source, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
    • ISIS Neutron and Muon Sources, Science & Technology Facilities Council
    • ISIS Facility, Science and Technology Facilities Council Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Chilton, Didcot OX11 0QX, UK.
    • ISIS, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0QX, UK

  • Yanxing Yang

    • Fudan University
    • State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, People’s Republic of China.

  • Zihao Zhu

    • Fudan University
    • State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, People’s Republic of China.

  • Jun Qian

    • State Key Lab for Metal Matrix Composites, Key Laboratory of Artificial Structures and Quantum Control (Ministry of Education), Department of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai

  • Yan Wan

    • State Key Lab for Metal Matrix Composites, Key Laboratory of Artificial Structures and Quantum Control (Ministry of Education), Department of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai

  • Xin Yao

    • State Key Lab for Metal Matrix Composites, Key Laboratory of Artificial Structures and Quantum Control (Ministry of Education), Department of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai

  • Lei Shu

    • State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
    • Fudan University
    • Physics, Fudan University
    • State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, People’s Republic of China.