Large response of charge stripes to uniaxial stress in $\textrm{La}_{1.475}\textrm{Nd}_{0.4}\textrm{Sr}_{0.125}\textrm{Cu}\textrm{O}_{4}$

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that applying modest uniaxial stress to La-based cuprates significantly alters charge stripe order, transition temperatures, and the competition between charge order and superconductivity, revealing strong coupling between lattice and electronic phases.

Contribution

The paper provides the first detailed experimental evidence of how uniaxial stress influences charge stripes and structural transitions in La-based cuprates, highlighting their sensitivity to mechanical perturbations.

Findings

Charge stripe onset temperature decreases by ~50 K under stress.

Orthorhombic-to-tetragonal transition temperature reduces by 29 K.

Charge stripes preferentially align along the stress direction.

Abstract

The La-based '214' cuprates host several symmetry breaking phases including superconductivity, charge and spin order in the form of stripes, and a structural othorhombic-to-tetragonal phase transition. Therefore, these materials are an ideal system to study the effects of uniaxial stress onto the various correlations that pervade the cuprate phase diagram. We report resonant x-ray scattering experiments on $\textrm{La}_{1.475}\textrm{Nd}_{0.4}\textrm{Sr}_{0.125}\textrm{Cu}\textrm{O}_{4}$ (LNSCO-125) that reveal a significant response of charge stripes to uniaxial tensile-stress of $\sim$ 0.1 GPa. These effects include a reduction of the onset temperature of stripes by $\sim$ 50 K, a 29 K reduction of the low-temperature orthorhombic-to-tetragonal transition, competition between charge order and superconductivity, and a preference for stripes to form along the direction of applied stress. Altogether, we observe a dramatic response of the electronic properties of LNSCO-125 to a modest amount of uniaxial stress.