superconductors

An overarching question in the study of quantum materials is the nature of the relation between structural and electronic properties. A prime example is the cuprate superconductors, for which the role of structural inhomogeneity has remained unclear. We have carried out diffuse X-ray and neutron scattering experiments on La_2-xSr_xCuO₄ and Tl₂Ba₂CuO_6+δ and observed prominent short-range orthorhombic fluctuations across the temperature-doping phase diagram, including for nominally tetragonal compositions [1]. The measured intensity exhibits exponential scaling in temperature, analogous to recent findings for the superconducting precursor of cuprates [2,3] and other oxides [4]. More recent X-ray scattering experiments extend these findings to additional temperatures and doping levels. Our results point to the relevance of structural inhomogeneity for the emergence of superconductivity in the cuprates.

[1] D. Pelc et al., arXiv:2103.05482 (2021)

[2] D. Pelc et al., Nat. Commun. 9, 4327 (2018)

[3] G. Yu et al., Phys. Rev. B. 99, 214502 (2019)

[4] D. Pelc et al., Nat. Commun. 10, 2729 (2019)

Work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy through the University of Minnesota Center for Quantum Materials under Grant No. DE-SC0016371.