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PIRSA:15120025

Long-range order and pinning of charge-density waves in competition with superconductivity

APA

Wachtel, G. (2015). Long-range order and pinning of charge-density waves in competition with superconductivity. Perimeter Institute. https://pirsa.org/15120025

Gideon Wachtel University of Toronto - Department of Physics

Talk numberPIRSA:15120025
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Abstract

Recent experiments show that charge-density wave correlations are prevalent in underdoped cuprate superconductors. The correlations are short-ranged at weak magnetic fields but their intensity and spatial extent increase rapidly at low temperatures beyond a crossover field. Here we consider the possibility of long-range charge-density wave order in a model of a layered system where such order competes with superconductivity. We show that in the clean limit, low-temperature long-range order is stabilized by arbitrarily weak magnetic fields. This apparent discrepancy with the experiments is resolved by the presence of disorder. Like the field, disorder nucleates halos of charge-density wave, but unlike the former it also disrupts inter-halo coherence, leading to a correlation length that is always finite. Our results are compatible with various experimental trends, including the onset of longer range correlations induced by inter-layer coupling above a characteristic field scale.