Electronic liquid crystal state in the high-temperature superconductor YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6.45}$

V. Hinkov (1) , D. Haug (1) , B. Fauqué (2) , P. Bourges (2) , Yvan Sidis (2) , A. Ivanov (3) , C. Bernhard (4) , Lin C.T. (1) , B. Keimer (1)

1 MPI-P - Max-Planck-Institut für Physik (Werner-Heisenberg-Institut)
2 LLB - UMR 12 - Laboratoire Léon Brillouin
3 ILL - Institut Laue-Langevin
4 University of Fribourg

Electronic phases with symmetry properties matching those of conventional liquid crystals have recently been discovered in transport experiments on semiconductor heterostructures and metal oxides at milli-Kelvin temperatures. We report the spontaneous onset of a onedimensional, incommensurate modulation of the spin system in the high-temperature superconductor YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6.45}$ upon cooling below ~150 K, while static magnetic order is absent above 2 K. The evolution of this modulation with temperature and doping parallels that of the in-plane anisotropy of the resistivity, indicating an electronic nematic phase that is stable over a wide temperature range. The results suggest that soft spin fluctuations are a microscopic route towards electronic liquid crystals, and nematic order can coexist with high-temperature superconductivity in underdoped cuprates.

Domains: Physics [physics]; Condensed Matter [cond-mat]; Other [cond-mat.other]

V. Hinkov, D. Haug, B. Fauqué, P. Bourges, Yvan Sidis, et al.. Electronic liquid crystal state in the high-temperature superconductor YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6.45}$. Science, 2008, 319 (5863), pp.597. ⟨10.1126/science.1152309⟩. ⟨cea-00815717⟩