Spatially inhomogeneous competition between superconductivity and the charge density wave in YBa 2 Cu 3 O 6.67

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 990
• Main Authors: Choi, J, Ivashko, O, Blackburn, E, Liang, R, Bonn, D A, Hardy, W N, Holmes, A T, Christensen, N B, Hücker, M, Gerber, S, Gutowski, O, Rütt, U, Zimmermann, M V, Forgan, E M, Hayden, S M, Chang, J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 20-02-2020
• ISSN: 2041-1723

The charge density wave in the high-temperature superconductor YBa
Cu
O
(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 CuO
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 YBa
Cu
O
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.