217 research outputs found
Magnetic excitations in stripe-ordered LaBaCuO studied using resonant inelastic x-ray scattering
The charge and spin correlations in LaBaCuO (LBCO
1/8) are studied using Cu edge resonant inelastic x-ray scattering
(RIXS). The static charge order (CO) is observed at a wavevector of
and its charge nature confirmed by measuring the dependence of this peak on the
incident x-ray polarization. The paramagnon excitation in LBCO 1/8 is then
measured as it disperses through the CO wavevector. Within the experimental
uncertainty no changes are observed in the paramagnon due to the static CO, and
the paramagnon seems to be similar to that measured in other cuprates, which
have no static CO. Given that the stripe correlation modulates both the charge
and spin degrees of freedom, it is likely that subtle changes do occur in the
paramagnon due to CO. Consequently, we propose that future RIXS measurements,
realized with higher energy resolution and sensitivity, should be performed to
test for these effects.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Doping dependent charge order correlations in electron-doped cuprates
Understanding the interplay between charge order (CO) and other phenomena
(e.g. pseudogap, antiferromagnetism, and superconductivity) is one of the
central questions in the cuprate high-temperature superconductors. The
discovery that similar forms of CO exist in both hole- and electron-doped
cuprates opened a path to determine what subset of the CO phenomenology is
universal to all the cuprates. Here, we use resonant x-ray scattering to
measure the charge order correlations in electron-doped cuprates (La2-xCexCuO4
and Nd2-xCexCuO4) and their relationship to antiferromagnetism, pseudogap, and
superconductivity. Detailed measurements of Nd2-xCexCuO4 show that CO is
present in the x = 0.059 to 0.166 range, and that its doping dependent
wavevector is consistent with the separation between straight segments of the
Fermi surface. The CO onset temperature is highest between x = 0.106 and 0.166,
but decreases at lower doping levels, indicating that it is not tied to the
appearance of antiferromagnetic correlations or the pseudogap. Near optimal
doping, where the CO wavevector is also consistent with a previously observed
phonon anomaly, measurements of the CO below and above the superconducting
transition temperature, or in a magnetic field, show that the CO is insensitive
to superconductivity. Overall these findings indicate that, while verified in
the electron-doped cuprates, material-dependent details determine whether the
CO correlations acquire sufficient strength to compete for the ground state of
the cuprates.Comment: Supplementary information available upon reques
Collective nature of spin excitations in superconducting cuprates probed by resonant inelastic x-ray scattering
We used resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) with and without analysis
of the scattered photon polarization, to study dispersive spin excitations in
the high temperature superconductor YBa2Cu3O6+x over a wide range of doping
levels (0.1 < x < 1). The excitation profiles were carefully monitored as the
incident photon energy was detuned from the resonant condition, and the spin
excitation energy was found to be independent of detuning for all x. These
findings demonstrate that the largest fraction of the spin-flip RIXS profiles
in doped cuprates arises from magnetic collective modes, rather than from
incoherent particle-hole excitations as recently suggested theoretically
[Benjamin et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 247002(2014)]. Implications for the
theoretical description of the electron system in the cuprates are discussed.Comment: Supplementary materials are available upon reques
Charge order driven by Fermi-arc instability in Bi2201
The understanding of the origin of superconductivity in cuprates has been
hindered by the apparent diversity of intertwining electronic orders in these
materials. We combined resonant x-ray scattering (REXS), scanning-tunneling
microscopy (STM), and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) to
observe a charge order that appears consistently in surface and bulk, and in
momentum and real space within one cuprate family, Bi2201. The observed wave
vectors rule out simple antinodal nesting in the single-particle limit but
match well with a phenomenological model of a many-body instability of the
Fermi arcs. Combined with earlier observations of electronic order in other
cuprate families, these findings suggest the existence of a generic
charge-ordered state in underdoped cuprates and uncover its intimate connection
to the pseudogap regime.Comment: A high resolution version can be found at
http://www.phas.ubc.ca/~quantmat/ARPES/PUBLICATIONS/Articles/Bi2201_CDW_REXS_STM.pdf
Polarization resolved Cu -edge resonant inelastic x-ray scattering of orbital and spin excitations in NdBaCuO
High resolution resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) has proven
particularly effective in the determination of crystal field and spin
excitations in cuprates. Its strength lies in the large Cu resonance
and in the fact that the scattering cross section follows quite closely the
single-ion model predictions, both in the insulating parent compounds and in
the superconducting doped materials. However, the spectra become increasingly
broader with (hole) doping, hence resolving and assigning spectral features has
proven challenging even with the highest energy resolution experimentally
achievable. Here we have overcome this limitation by measuring the complete
polarization dependence of the RIXS spectra as function of momentum transfer
and doping in thin films of NdBaCuO. Besides
confirming the previous assignment of and spin excitations (magnon,
bimagnon) in the antiferromagnetic insulating parent compound, we unequivocally
single out the actual spin-flip contribution at all dopings. We also
demonstrate that the softening of excitations is mainly attributed to the
shift of the peak to lower energy loss. These results provide a definitive
assessment of the RIXS spectra of cuprates and demonstrate that RIXS
measurements with full polarization control are practically feasible and highly
informative.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figure
The simultaneous measurement of energy and linear polarization of the scattered radiation in resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering
Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS) in the soft x-ray range is an
element-specific energy-loss spectroscopy used to probe the electronic and
magnetic excitations in strongly correlated solids. In the recent years, RIXS
has been progressing very quickly in terms of energy resolution and
understanding of the experimental results, but the interpretation of spectra
could further improve, sometimes decisively, from a full knowledge of the
polarization of incident and scattered photons. Here we present the first
implementation, in a high resolution RIXS spectrometer used to analyze the
scattered radiation, of a device allowing the measurement of the degree of
linear polarization. The system, based on a graded W/B4C multilayer mirror
installed in proximity of the CCD detector, has been installed on the AXES
spectrometer at the ESRF; it has been fully characterized and it has been used
for a demonstration experiment at the Cu L3 edge on a high-Tc superconducting
cuprate. The loss in efficiency suffered by the spectrometer equipped with this
test facility was a factor 17.5. We propose also a more advanced version,
suitable for a routine use on the next generation of RIXS spectrometers and
with an overall efficiency up to 10%.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figure
Long-range incommensurate charge fluctuations in (Y,Nd)Ba2Cu3O(6+x)
There are increasing indications that superconductivity competes with other
orders in cuprate superconductors, but obtaining direct evidence with
bulk-sensitive probes is challenging. We have used resonant soft x-ray
scattering to identify two-dimensional charge fluctuations with an
incommensurate periodicity of lattice units in the copper-oxide
planes of the superconductors (Y,Nd)BaCuO with hole
concentrations per planar Cu ion. The intensity and
correlation length of the fluctuation signal increase strongly upon cooling
down to the superconducting transition temperature, ; further cooling
below abruptly reverses the divergence of the charge correlations. In
combination with prior observations of a large gap in the spin excitation
spectrum, these data indicate an incipient charge-density-wave instability that
competes with superconductivity.Comment: to appear in Scienc
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