Microscopic evidence for the intra-unit-cell electronic nematicity inside the pseudogap phase in YBa_(2)Cu_(4)O_(8)

Understanding the nature of the mysterious pseudogap phenomenon is one of the most important issues associated with cuprate high-T_(c) superconductors.Here,we report 17O nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR) studies on two planar oxygen sites in stoichio?metric cuprate YBa_(2)Cu_(4)O_(8) to investigate the symmetry breaking inside the pseudogap phase.We observe that the Knight shifts of the two oxygen sites are identical at high temperatures but different below T_(nem) ~185 K,which is close to the pseudogap temperature T^(*).Our result provides a microscopic evidence for intra-unit-cell electronic nematicity.The difference in quadrupole resonance frequency between the two oxygen sites is unchanged below T_(nem),which suggests that the observed nematicity does not directly stem from the local charge density modulation.Furthermore,a short-range charge density wave(CDW) order is observed below T=150 K.The additional broadening in the 17O-NMR spectra because of this CDW order is determined to be inequivalent for the two oxygen sites,which is similar to that observed in case of nematicity.These results suggest a possible connection between nematicity,CDW order,and pseudogap.

Structural phase transition, antiferromagnetism and two superconducting domes in LaFeAsO_(1-x)F_x(0

We report^(75) As nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR)/nuclear quadrupole resonance(NQR) and transmission electron microscopy(TEM) studies on LaFeAsO_(1-x)F_x. There are two superconducting domes in this material. The first one appears at 0.03 ≤ x ≤0.2 with T_c^(max) = 27 K, and the second one at 0.25 ≤x≤0.75 with T_c^(max) = 30 K. By NMR and TEM, we demonstrate that a C4-to-C2 structural phase transition(SPT) takes place above both domes, with the transition temperature T_s varying strongly with x. In the first dome, the SPT is followed by an antiferromagnetic(AF) transition, but neither AF order nor low-energy spin fluctuations are found in the second dome. By ^(75) As nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate(1/T_1) measurements, we find that AF order and superconductivity coexist microscopically in LaFeAsO_(0.97) F_(0.03). In the coexisting region, 1/T_1 decreases at T_c but becomes proportional to T below 0.6 T_c, indicating gapless excitations. Therefore, in contrast to the early reports, the obtained phase diagram for x ≤ 0.2 is quite similar to the doped BaFe_2As_2 system. The electrical resistivity p in the second dome can be fitted by ρ = ρ0 + AT^n with n = 1 and a maximal coefficient A at around xopt = 0.5-0.55 at which T_s extrapolates to zero and Tc is the maximal, which suggests the importance of quantum critical fluctuations associated with the SPT. We have constructed a complete phase diagram of LaFeAsO_(1-x)F_x, which provides insight into the relationship between SPT, antiferromagnetism and superconductivity.