No Evidence for Orbital Loop Currents in Charge Ordered YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6+x}$ from Polarized Neutron Diffraction

TL;DR

This study used polarized neutron diffraction to investigate the presence of orbital loop currents in underdoped YBa2Cu3O6+x, finding no evidence for such magnetic order and setting upper bounds on possible orbital moments.

Contribution

The paper provides the first direct neutron diffraction measurements that challenge the existence of orbital loop currents in high-quality cuprate superconductors.

Findings

No magnetic order detected below 300 K.

Sets upper bounds on orbital loop moments (<0.013 μB).

Contradicts some previous reports of circulating currents.

Abstract

It has been proposed that the pseudogap state of underdoped cuprate superconductors may be due to a transition to a phase which has circulating currents within each unit cell. Here, we use polarized neutron diffraction to search for the corresponding orbital moments in two samples of underdoped YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6+x}$ with doping levels $p=0.104$ and 0.123. In contrast to some other reports using polarized neutrons, but in agreement with nuclear magnetic resonance and muon spin rotation measurements, we find no evidence for the appearance of magnetic order below 300 K. Thus, our experiment suggests that such order is not an intrinsic property of high-quality cuprate superconductor single crystals. Our results provide an upper bound for a possible orbital loop moment which depends on the pattern of currents within the unit cell. For example, for the CC-$\theta_{II}$ pattern proposed by Varma, we find that the ordered moment per current loop is less than 0.013 $\mu_B$ for $p=0.104$.