Abstract
We report a comprehensive Cu -edge resonant x-ray scattering (RXS) study of two- and three-dimensional (2D and 3D) incommensurate charge correlations in single crystals of the underdoped high-temperature superconductor under uniaxial compression up to 1% along the two inequivalent bond directions ( and ) in the planes. We confirm the strong in-plane anisotropy of the 2D charge correlations and observe their symmetric response to pressure: pressure along enhances correlations along , and vice versa. Our results imply that the underlying order parameter is uniaxial. In contrast, 3D long-range charge order is only observed along in response to compression along . Spectroscopic RXS measurements show that the 3D charge order resides exclusively in the planes and may thus be generic to the cuprates. We discuss implications of these results for models of electronic nematicity and for the interplay between charge order and superconductivity.
- Received 19 August 2020
- Revised 10 November 2020
- Accepted 14 December 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.037002
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