Emergence of charge order from the vortex state of a high temperature superconductor

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that charge order in high-temperature cuprate superconductors competes with superconductivity, with evidence from NMR showing maximum charge order strength within the superconducting dome and its field-tuned emergence around vortex cores.

Contribution

It reveals universal features of charge order and superconductivity competition, showing their joint instabilities and field-tuned balance in the vortex state of high-Tc cuprates.

Findings

Charge order peaks inside the superconducting dome at doping p=0.11-0.12.

Overlap of charge order halos around vortex cores explains the threshold magnetic field.

Charge order and superconductivity are competing instabilities of the same normal state.

Abstract

Evidence is mounting that charge order competes with superconductivity in high Tc cuprates. Whether this has any relationship to the pairing mechanism is unknown since neither the universality of the competition nor its microscopic nature has been established. Here using nuclear magnetic resonance, we show that, similar to La214, charge order in YBCO has maximum strength inside the superconducting dome, at doping levels p = 0.11 - 0.12.We further show that the overlap of halos of incipient charge order around vortex cores, similar to those visualised in Bi2212, can explain the threshold magnetic field at which long-range charge order emerges. These results reveal universal features of a competition in which charge order and superconductivity appear as joint instabilities of the same normal state, whose relative balance can be field-tuned in the vortex state.