Cuprate quantum phase transition probed by nanoscale density wave inhomogeneity

ORAL

Abstract

The cuprate phase diagram exhibits a number of ordered phases in addition to superconductivity, and it has long been postulated that a quantum critical point - separating the notoriously unconventional underdoped regime from the overdoped so-called Fermi liquid - may influence a large region of the phase diagram. Experiments to uncover the electronic correlations giving rise to the complex phenomenology are key to understanding the complete ground state evolution.

Here, we use the d-form factor density wave (DW), imaged via scanning tunneling microscopy, to probe the ground state evolution in superconducting (Pb,Bi)2(Sr,La)2CuO6+δ (Bi-2201). We employ the disorder caused by local dopant inhomogeneity to gain continuous access to the doping axis of the phase diagram, both via standard Fourier techniques and machine learning. We find a transition in the DW from commensurate to incommensurate, which occurs simultaneously with the Fermi surface transition, where open arcs are replaced by a conventional large Fermi surface. The coincidence of these transitions indicates an intimate link between the commensurate instability and the mechanism underlying the Fermi arcs.

*TW and MHH were funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s EPiQS Initiative through Grant GBMF4536.

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Presenters

  • Tatiana Webb

    • Physics, Harvard University
    • Department of Physics, Harvard University
    • Harvard University

Authors

  • Tatiana Webb

    • Physics, Harvard University
    • Department of Physics, Harvard University
    • Harvard University

  • Kaylie Hausknecht

    • Department of Physics, Harvard University

  • Michael C Boyer

    • Department of Physics, Clark University
    • Clark University
    • Physics, Clark University

  • Yi Yin

    • Department of Physics, Zhejiang University
    • Zhejiang University

  • Debanjan Chowdhury

    • Physics, MIT
    • Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  • Yang He

    • Department of Physics, Harvard University
    • Harvard University

  • Takeshi Kondo

    • ISSP, University of Tokyo
    • Institute for Solid State Physics, University of Tokyo
    • University of Tokyo

  • Tsunehiro Takeuchi

    • Toyota Technological Institute
    • Nagoya University

  • Hiroshi Ikuta

    • Department of Materials Physics, Nagoya University
    • Nagoya University

  • Eric Hudson

    • Pennsylvania State University
    • Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University

  • Mohammad H Hamidian

    • Department of Physics, Harvard University
    • Harvard University
    • Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States

  • Jennifer Hoffman

    • Physics, Harvard University
    • Department of Physics, Harvard University
    • Harvard University
    • Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States