Detection of the Unusual Magnetic Orders in the Pseudogap Region of a High-Temperature Superconducting YBa2Cu3O6.6 Crystal by Muon-Spin Relaxation

TL;DR

This study uses muon spin relaxation to detect and compare unusual magnetic orders in YBa2Cu3O6.6 crystals, revealing that some magnetic phenomena are due to impurities rather than intrinsic pseudogap properties.

Contribution

The paper identifies two types of magnetic order in YBa2Cu3O6.6, with one being impurity-related, challenging theories linking pseudogap to loop-current order.

Findings

One magnetic order is consistent across samples and unaffected by doping.

A second magnetic order appears only in the YBa2Cu3O6.6 crystal and is impurity-related.

Magnetic moments are confined to about 3% of the sample volume.

Abstract

We present muon spin relaxation (muSR) measurements on a large YBa2Cu3O6.6 single crystal in which two kinds of unusual magnetic order have been detected in the pseudogap region by neutron scattering. A comparison is made to measurements on smaller, higher quality YBa2Cu3Oy single crystals. One type of magnetic order is observed in all samples, but does not evolve significantly with hole doping. A second type of unusual magnetic order is observed only in the YBa2Cu3O6.6 single crystal. This magnetism has an ordered magnetic moment that is quantitatively consistent with the neutron experiments, but is confined to just a small volume of the sample (~ 3%). Our findings do not support theories that ascribe the pseudogap to a state characterized by loop-current order, but instead indicate that dilute impurity phases are the source of the unusual magnetic orders in YBa2Cu3Oy.