Abstract
Recent developments in high-temperature superconductivity highlight a generic tendency of the cuprates to develop competing electronic (charge) supermodulations. While coupled with the lattice and showing different characteristics in different materials, these supermodulations themselves are generally conceived to be quasi-two-dimensional, residing mainly in individual CuO2 planes, and poorly correlated along the c axis. Here we observed with resonant elastic X-ray scattering a distinct type of electronic supermodulation in YBa2Cu3O7−x (YBCO) thin films grown epitaxially on La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 (LCMO). This supermodulation has a periodicity nearly commensurate with four lattice constants in-plane, eight out of plane, with long correlation lengths in three dimensions. It sets in far above the superconducting transition temperature and competes with superconductivity below this temperature for electronic states predominantly in the CuO2 plane. Our finding sheds light on the nature of charge ordering in cuprates as well as a reported long-range proximity effect between superconductivity and ferromagnetism in YBCO/LCMO heterostructures.
Highlights
Recent developments in high-temperature superconductivity highlight a generic tendency of the cuprates to develop competing electronic supermodulations
It remains uncertain whether the two categories of order reflect the same charge ordering mechanism in the cuprates that is prone to the effects of various internal and external factors or whether they should be attributed to distinct tendencies of different origins, each competing with superconductivity[20]
We report the observation of a distinct electronic order in YBa2Cu3O7 À x (YBCO) thin films grown epitaxially on LCMO layers
Summary
Recent developments in high-temperature superconductivity highlight a generic tendency of the cuprates to develop competing electronic (charge) supermodulations. For bulk YBCO, charge order with periodicity close to three lattice constants (period-3) was observed in resonant elastic X-ray scattering (REXS) and hard X-ray diffraction experiments in zero or relatively low magnetic field This ordering has an onset at B110–160 K upon cooling and maintains short-range order at even lower temperatures[13,14,15,16,17]. Our observations add a significant piece to the puzzle of high-temperature superconductivity, providing insights into the nature of charge ordering in cuprates This three-dimensional (3D) long-range competing order in YBCO/LCMO heterostructures provides an angle for interpreting the long-range proximity effect between superconductivity and ferromagnetism reported in this system
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