Vanishing nematic order beyond the pseudogap phase in overdoped cuprate superconductors

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2021-08, Vol.118 (34), p.1-5
• Main Authors: Gupta, Naman K., McMahon, Christopher, Sutarto, Ronny, Shi, Tianyu, Gong, Rantong, Wei, Haofei I., Shen, Kyle M., He, Feizhou, Ma, Qianli, Dragomir, Mirela, Gaulin, Bruce D., Hawthorn, David G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Broken symmetry; Critical point; Cuprates; Doping; Group 5A compounds; High temperature; High temperature superconductors; Phase diagrams; Phenomenology; Physical Sciences; X-ray scattering
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2106881118

During the last decade, translational and rotational symmetry-breaking phases—density wave order and electronic nematicity—have been established as generic and distinct features of many correlated electron systems, including pnictide and cuprate superconductors. However, in cuprates, the relationship between these electronic symmetry-breaking phases and the enigmatic pseudogap phase remains unclear. Here, we employ resonant X-ray scattering in a cuprate high-temperature superconductor La1.6–xNd0.4SrₓCuO₄ (Nd-LSCO) to navigate the cuprate phase diagram, probing the relationship between electronic nematicity of the Cu 3d orbitals, charge order, and the pseudogap phase as a function of doping. We find evidence for a considerable decrease in electronic nematicity beyond the pseudogap phase, either by raising the temperature through the pseudogap onset temperature T* or increasing doping through the pseudogap critical point, p*. These results establish a clear link between electronic nematicity, the pseudogap, and its associated quantum criticality in overdoped cuprates. Our findings anticipate that electronic nematicity may play a larger role in understanding the cuprate phase diagram than previously recognized, possibly having a crucial role in the phenomenology of the pseudogap phase.