Abstract
Experimental evidence on high-Tc cuprates reveals ubiquitous charge density wave (CDW) modulations1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10, which coexist with superconductivity. Although the CDW had been predicted by theory11,12,13, important questions remain about the extent to which the CDW influences lattice and charge degrees of freedom and its characteristics as functions of doping and temperature. These questions are intimately connected to the origin of the CDW and its relation to the mysterious cuprate pseudogap10,14. Here, we use ultrahigh-resolution resonant inelastic X-ray scattering to reveal new CDW character in underdoped Bi2.2Sr1.8Ca0.8Dy0.2Cu2O8+δ. At low temperature, we observe dispersive excitations from an incommensurate CDW that induces anomalously enhanced phonon intensity, unseen using other techniques. Near the pseudogap temperature T∗, the CDW persists, but the associated excitations significantly weaken with an indication of CDW wavevector shift. The dispersive CDW excitations, phonon anomaly, and analysis of the CDW wavevector provide a comprehensive momentum-space picture of complex CDW behaviour and point to a closer relationship with the pseudogap state.
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Acknowledgements
We thank S. A. Kivelson for discussions. This work is supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division, under contract DE-AC02-76SF00515. L.C. acknowledges the support from Department of Energy, SLAC Laboratory Directed Research and Development funder contract under DE-AC02-76SF00515. The data in Fig. 1b were taken partly at the Advanced Resonant Spectroscopies (ADRESS) beam line of the Swiss Light Source, using the Super Advanced X-ray Emission Spectrometer (SAXES) instrument jointly built by Paul Scherrer Institut (Villigen, Switzerland), Politecnico di Milano (Italy), and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland); all other RIXS data were taken at the ID32 of the ESRF (Grenoble, France) using the ERIXS spectrometer designed jointly by the ESRF and Politecnico di Milano. ARPES data were taken at Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, operated by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences.
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W.-S.L., G.G., L.B., T.P.D. and Z.-X.S. conceived the experiment. L.C., W.-S.L., G.G., Y.Y.P., M.H., L.B., K.K. and N.B.B. conducted the experiment at ESRF. L.C., W.-S.L., G.G., Y.Y.P., L.B. and M.H. analysed the data. T.P.D. and B.M. performed the theoretical calculations. Y.H., S.C., S.I., Y.Y., H.E. and M.S. synthesized and prepared samples for the experiments. L.C. and W.-S.L. wrote the manuscript with input from all the authors.
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Chaix, L., Ghiringhelli, G., Peng, Y. et al. Dispersive charge density wave excitations in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ. Nature Phys 13, 952–956 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys4157
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys4157
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