Combined single crystal polarized XAFS and XRD at high pressure: probing the interplay between lattice distortions and electronic order at multiple length scales in high T_c cuprates

ABSTRACT

Some of the most exotic material properties derive from electronic states with short correlation length ($\sim 10-500$ Å), suggesting that the local structural symmetry may play a relevant role in their behavior. Here, we discuss the combined use of polarized x-ray absorption fine structure and x-ray diffraction at high pressure as a powerful method to tune and probe structural and electronic orders at multiple length scales. Besides addressing some of the technical challenges associated with such experiments, we illustrate this approach with results obtained in the cuprate ${\mathrm{La}}_{1.875}{\mathrm{Ba}}_{0.125}{\mathrm{CuO}}_4$, in which the response of electronic order to pressure can only be understood by probing the structure at the relevant length scales.

KEYWORDS:

• Polarized XAFS
• x-ray diffraction
• high pressure
• cuprates

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Yejun Feng for his valuable advice and help during the experiment.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCiD

G. Fabbris http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8278-4985

Additional information

Funding

Work at Argonne National Laboratory (Brookhaven National Laboratory) was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357 (DE-SC00112704). The Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility. G.F. was also supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under Award Number 1047478.