Universal inhomogeneous magnetic-field response in the normal state of cuprate high-Tc superconductors

Abstract

We report the results of a muon spin rotation (μSR) study of the bulk of Bi2+xSr2−xCaCu2O8+δ, as well as pure and Ca-doped YBa2Cu3Oy, which together with prior measurements reveal a universal inhomogeneous magnetic-field response of hole-doped cuprates extending to temperatures far above the critical temperature Tc. The primary features of our data are incompatible with the spatially inhomogeneous response being dominated by known charge-density-wave and spin-density-wave orders. Instead, the normal-state inhomogeneous line broadening is found to scale with the maximum value Tcmax for each cuprate family, indicating it is controlled by the same energy scale as Tc. Since the degree of chemical disorder varies widely among the cuprates we have measured, the observed scaling constitutes evidence for an intrinsic electronic tendency toward inhomogeneity above Tc.

Source-reported materials — not catalogue approval

Similar papers