Light-enhanced Charge Density Wave Coherence in YBa<sub>2</sub>Cu<sub>3</sub>O<sub>6+x</sub>

ORAL

Abstract

We report ultrafast resonant soft x-ray scattering results tracking the transient evolution of charge density wave correlations in the high temperature superconductor YBa2Cu3O6+x. Ultrashort infrared pulses produce a non-thermal quench of the superconducting state, while X-ray pulses detect the reaction of charge density waves. We observe a picosecond response, characterized by a large enhancement of spatial coherence of charge density waves, nearly doubling their correlation length, and a smaller increase of their amplitude. This ultrafast snapshot directly reveals the interaction between these quantum states on their natural timescales. It demonstrates that their competition manifests inhomogeneously, as disruption of spatial coherence, indicating the role of superconductivity in stabilizing topological defects within charge density waves domains.

*This work is supported by the Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division, under Contract DE-AC02-76SF00515. Use of LCLS (SXR beamline) and SSRL (beamline 13-3), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515.

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Presenters

  • Giacomo Coslovich

    • SLAC - Natl Accelerator Lab

Authors

  • Scott Wandel

    • SLAC - Natl Accelerator Lab

  • Fabio Boschini

    • Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique
    • University of British Columbia

  • Eduardo H Da Silva Neto

    • Department of Physics, University of California, Davis
    • Yale University

  • Joshua Turner

    • SLAC - Natl Accelerator Lab

  • Lingjia Shen

    • SLAC - Natl Accelerator Lab

  • MengXing Na

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia

  • Sioan Zohar

    • SLAC - Natl Accelerator Lab

  • Jake D Koralek

    • SLAC National Lab
    • SLAC - Natl Accelerator Lab

  • Ruixing Liang

    • Quantum Matter Institute, University of British Columbia
    • University of British Columbia
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia

  • Doug Bonn

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia

  • Walter N Hardy

    • University of British Columbia
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia

  • Andrea Damascelli

    • Quantum Matter Institute, University of British Columbia
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia

  • Giacomo Coslovich

    • SLAC - Natl Accelerator Lab