Evolution of magnetic stripes under uniaxial stress in La$_{1.885}$Ba$_{0.115}$CuO$_4$ studied by neutron scattering

TL;DR

This study investigates how uniaxial stress affects magnetic stripe order in La$_{1.885}$Ba$_{0.115}$CuO$_4$, revealing suppression of static magnetism and shifts in magnetic fluctuations, which impacts understanding of stress-enhanced superconductivity.

Contribution

It provides new neutron scattering data showing the suppression of static magnetic stripes and shifts in magnetic fluctuations under uniaxial stress in cuprates.

Findings

Static magnetic stripes are suppressed by uniaxial stress.

Some magnetic spectral weight shifts from elastic to inelastic channels.

Magnetic fluctuations shift towards the 1/8 commensurate wavevector.

Abstract

Here we present the effect of uniaxial stress on the magnetic stripes in the cuprate system La$_{2-x}$Ba$_{x}$CuO$_4$ with $x = 0.115$, previously found to have a stress-induced enhancement in the superconducting transition temperature. By means of neutron scattering, we show that the static stripes are suppressed by stress, pointing towards a trade-off between superconductivity and static magnetism, in direct agreement with previously reported $\mu$SR measurements. Additionally, we show that some of the reduced weight in the elastic channel appears to have moved to the inelastic channel. Moreover, a stress-induced momentum shift of the fluctuations towards the typical 1/8 value of commensurability is observed. These results impose a strong constraint on the theoretical interpretation of stress-enhanced superconductivity in cuprate systems.