High-temperature charge density wave correlations in La 1.875 Ba 0.125 CuO 4 without spin-charge locking

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2017-11, Vol.114 (47), p.12430-12435
• Main Authors: Miao, H, Lorenzana, J, Seibold, G, Peng, Y Y, Amorese, A, Yakhou-Harris, F, Kummer, K, Brookes, N B, Konik, R M, Thampy, V, Gu, G D, Ghiringhelli, G, Braicovich, L, Dean, M P M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Charge density waves; CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; Cuprates; Stripes; Superconductivity
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1708549114

Although all superconducting cuprates display charge-ordering tendencies, their low-temperature properties are distinct, impeding efforts to understand the phenomena within a single conceptual framework. While some systems exhibit stripes of charge and spin, with a locked periodicity, others host charge density waves (CDWs) without any obviously related spin order. Here we use resonant inelastic X-ray scattering to follow the evolution of charge correlations in the canonical stripe-ordered cuprate La Ba CuO across its ordering transition. We find that high-temperature charge correlations are unlocked from the wavevector of the spin correlations, signaling analogies to CDW phases in various other cuprates. This indicates that stripe order at low temperatures is stabilized by the coupling of otherwise independent charge and spin density waves, with important implications for the relation between charge and spin correlations in the cuprates.