In order to identify the mechanism responsible for the formation of charge-density waves (CDW) in cuprate superconductors, it is important to understand which aspects of the CDW's microscopic structure are generic and which are material-dependent. Here, we show that, at the local scale probed by NMR, long-range CDW order in YBaCuO is unidirectional with a commensurate period of three unit cells (λ = 3b), implying that the incommensurability found in X-ray scattering is ensured by phase slips (discommensurations). Furthermore, NMR spectra reveal a predominant oxygen character of the CDW with an out-of-phase relationship between certain lattice sites but no specific signature of a secondary CDW with λ = 6b associated with a putative pair-density wave.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe coupled spin-1 chains material NiCl_{2}-4SC(NH_{2})_{2} (DTN) doped with Br impurities is expected to be a perfect candidate for observing many-body localization at high magnetic field: the so-called "Bose glass," a zero-temperature bosonic fluid, compressible, gapless, incoherent, and short-range correlated. Using nuclear magnetic resonance, we critically address the stability of the Bose glass in doped DTN, and find that it hosts a novel disorder-induced ordered state of matter, where many-body physics leads to an unexpected resurgence of quantum coherence emerging from localized impurity states. An experimental phase diagram of this new "order-from-disorder" phase, established from nuclear magnetic resonance T_{1}^{-1} relaxation rate data in the 13±1% Br-doped DTN, is found to be in excellent agreement with the theoretical prediction from large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe present a detailed study of the temperature (T) and magnetic field (H) dependence of the electronic density of states (DOS) at the Fermi level, as deduced from specific heat and Knight shift measurements in underdoped YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{y}. We find that the DOS becomes field independent above a characteristic field H_{DOS}, and that the H_{DOS}(T) line displays an unusual inflection near the onset of the long-range 3D charge-density wave order. The unusual S shape of H_{DOS}(T) is suggestive of two mutually exclusive orders that eventually establish a form of cooperation in order to coexist at low T.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
December 2017
The value of the upper critical field , a fundamental characteristic of the superconducting state, has been subject to strong controversy in high- copper oxides. Since the issue has been tackled almost exclusively by macroscopic techniques so far, there is a clear need for local-probe measurements. Here, we use O NMR to measure the spin susceptibility [Formula: see text] of the CuO planes at low temperature in charge-ordered YBaCuO We find that [Formula: see text] increases (most likely linearly) with magnetic field and saturates above field values ranging from 20 T to 40 T.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report a novel crossover behavior in the long-range-ordered phase of a prototypical spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnetic ladder compound (C_{7}H_{10}N)_{2}CuBr_{4}. The staggered order was previously evidenced from a continuous and symmetric splitting of ^{14}N NMR spectral lines on lowering the temperature below T_{c}≃330 mK, with a saturation towards ≃150 mK. Unexpectedly, the split lines begin to further separate away below T^{*}∼100 mK, while the linewidth and the line shape remain completely invariable.
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