X-rays writing/reading of Charge Density Waves in the CuO2 plane of a simple cuprate superconductor

TL;DR

This study demonstrates the ability to control and manipulate charge density wave puddles in a cuprate superconductor using X-ray illumination and thermal treatments, impacting the design of superconducting electronic devices.

Contribution

It introduces a novel X-ray based pump-probe method to write and read charge density wave arrangements in cuprates, enabling precise control over their spatial organization.

Findings

X-ray illumination can modify CDW puddle populations.

Thermal treatments influence CDW spatial organization.

Controlled CDW manipulation affects superconducting pathways.

Abstract

It is now well established that superconductivity in cuprates competes with charge modulations giving electronic phase separation at a nanoscale. More specifically, superconducting electronic current takes root in the available free space left by electronic charge ordered domains, called charge density wave (CDW) puddles. This means that CDW domain arrangement plays a fundamental role in the mechanism of high temperature superconductivity in cuprates. Here we report about the possibility of controlling the population and spatial organization of the charge density wave puddles in a single crystal La2CuO4+y through X - ray illumination and thermal treatments. We apply a pump - probe method based on X - ray illumination as pump and X - ray diffraction as a probe setting a writing and reading procedure of CDW puddles. Our findings are expected to allow new routes for advanced design and manipulation of superconducting pathways in new electronics.