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Charge fluctuations in YBa2Cu3O7-x high-temperature superconductors

Nature volume 401, pages 145–148 (1999)Cite this article

Abstract

Understanding the behaviour of the electrons in the high-temperature copper oxide superconductors remains a challenging problem. An important class of models1,2,3,4,5 argues that the distribution of electronic charge and spin is not homogeneous: rather, spin and charge adopt a dynamic arrangement in which the spins on the copper form antiferromagnetic stripes, separated by domain walls containing the charge1,2,3,4,5. The dynamic behaviour of the spins has been extensively studied by neutron scattering, and recent results6 have shown that the low-frequency fluctuations for different classes of materials display a universal spatial behaviour that is consistent with the stripe picture. But arguments for the existence of the stripe phases are difficult to sustain without a demonstration that charge is distributed in the domain walls. Here we report phonon measurements for the YBa2Cu3O7-x high-temperature superconductors, which reveal the presence of charge fluctuations. The inferred periodicity is that expected if the charge is located in the domain walls separating the spin stripes. Our results therefore provide strong support for the existence of a dynamic stripe phase in the high-temperature superconductors.

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Figure 1: Phonon-intensity measurements for the 〈B2uB3u〉 planar oxygen mode in YBCO7-x for three oxygen compositions.
Figure 2: Energy scans (meV) obtained at values of q where substantial phonon broadening occurs in YBCO6.35 and YBCO6.60.
Figure 3: Phonon line-widths obtained from the least-squares fits of the phonon intensity I(ω) convoluted with the spectrometer resolution.

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Acknowledgements

We thank W.-T. Lee and J. L. Robertson for discussions on phonon dispersion in striped phases, and P. Dai for discussions on magnetic excitations. The work at Oak Ridge was supported by the US Department of Energy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 37831-6393, USA

    H. A. Mook

  2. Department of Materials Sciences and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, 98195, Washington, USA

    F. Doğan

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  1. H. A. Mook
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  2. F. Doğan
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Correspondence to H. A. Mook.

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Mook, H., Doğan, F. Charge fluctuations in YBa2Cu3O7-x high-temperature superconductors. Nature 401, 145–148 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/43629

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