Large response of charge stripes to uniaxial stress in <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mrow><mml:msub><mml:mi>La</mml:mi><mml:mrow><mml:mn>1.475</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:msub><mml:mi>Nd</mml:mi><mml:mrow><mml:mn>0.4</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:msub><mml:mi>Sr</mml:mi><mml:mrow><mml:mn>0.125</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:msub><mml:mi>CuO</mml:mi><mml:mn>4</mml:mn></mml:msub></mml:mrow></mml:math>
T. J. Boyle, M. Walker, Alejandro Ruiz, E. Schierle, Z.X. Zhao, Fabio Boschini, Ronny Sutarto, Teak D. Boyko, Warren H. Moore, Nobumichi Tamura, Feizhou He, E. Weschke, A. Gozar, Peng Wu, A. C. Komarek, A. Damascelli, C. Schüßler-Langeheine, A. Frano, Eduardo H. da Silva Neto, S. Blanco-Canosa
Abstract
The La-based "214" cuprates host several symmetry-breaking phases, including superconductivity, charge and spin order in the form of stripes, and a structural orthorhombic-to-tetragonal phase transition. Therefore these materials are an ideal system to study the effects of uniaxial stress onto the various correlations that pervade the cuprate phase diagram. We report resonant x-ray scattering experiments on La 1.475 Nd 0.4 Sr 0.125 CuO 4 (LNSCO-125) that reveal a significant response of charge stripes to uniaxial tensile stress of 0.1 GPa. These effects include a reduction of the onset temperature of stripes by 50 K, a 29-K reduction of the low-temperature orthorhombic-to-tetragonal transition, competition between charge order and superconductivity, and a preference for stripes to form along the direction of applied stress. Altogether, we observe a dramatic response of the electronic properties of LNSCO-125 to a modest amount of uniaxial stress.