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Spatially inhomogeneous competition between superconductivity and the charge density wave in YBa2Cu3O6.67

  • J. Choi
  • , O. Ivashko
  • , E. Blackburn
  • , R. Liang
  • , D. A. Bonn
  • , W. N. Hardy
  • , A. T. Holmes
  • , N. B. Christensen
  • , M. Hücker
  • , S. Gerber
  • , O. Gutowski
  • , U. Rütt
  • , M. v. Zimmermann
  • , E. M. Forgan
  • , S. M. Hayden
  • , J. Chang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

22 Citations (Scopus)
221 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The charge density wave in the high-temperature superconductor YBa2Cu3O7−x (YBCO) has two different ordering tendencies differentiated by their c-axis correlations. These correspond to ferro- (F-CDW) and antiferro- (AF-CDW) couplings between CDWs in neighbouring CuO2 bilayers. This discovery has prompted several fundamental questions: how does superconductivity adjust to two competing orders and are either of these orders responsible for the electronic reconstruction? Here we use x-ray diffraction to study YBa2Cu3O6.67 as a function of magnetic field and temperature. We show that regions with F-CDW correlations suppress superconductivity more strongly than those with AF-CDW correlations. This implies that an inhomogeneous superconducting state exists, in which some regions show a fragile form of superconductivity. By comparison of F-CDW and AF-CDW correlation lengths, it is concluded that F-CDW ordering is sufficiently long-range to modify the electronic structure. Our study thus suggests that F-CDW correlations impact both the superconducting and normal state properties of YBCO.
Original languageEnglish
JournalNature Communications
Volume11
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 20 Feb 2020

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