Universal superconducting precursor in three classes of unconventional superconductors

Journal Article · 21 June 2019 · Nature Communications

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10635-w · OSTI ID:1633944

Pelc, D.  ^[1]; Anderson, Z. ^[1]; Yu, B. ^[1]; Leighton, C.  ^[1]; Greven, M. ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)

A pivotal challenge posed by unconventional superconductors is to unravel how superconductivity emerges upon cooling from the generally complex normal state. Here, we use nonlinear magnetic response, a probe that is uniquely sensitive to the superconducting precursor, to uncover remarkable universal behaviour in three distinct classes of oxide superconductors: strontium titanate, strontium ruthenate, and the cuprate high-T_c materials. We find unusual exponential temperature dependence of the diamagnetic response above the transition temperature T_c, with a characteristic temperature scale that strongly varies with T_c. We correlate this scale with the sensitivity of T_c to local stress and show that it is influenced by intentionally-induced structural disorder. The universal behaviour is therefore caused by intrinsic, self-organized structural inhomogeneity, inherent to the oxides’ perovskite-based structure. The prevalence of such inhomogeneity has far-reaching implications for the interpretation of electronic properties of perovskite-related oxides in general.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC); USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: SC0016371
• OSTI ID: 1633944
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1612512
• Journal Information: Nature Communications, Vol. 10, Issue 1; ISSN 2041-1723
• Publisher: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English