Large response of charge stripes to uniaxial stress in La_{1.475}Nd_{0.4}Sr_{0.125}CuO_{4}

Abstract

The La-based “214” cuprates host several symmetry-breaking phases, including superconductivity, charge and spin order in the form of stripes, and a structural orthorhombic-to-tetragonal phase transition. Therefore these materials are an ideal system to study the effects of uniaxial stress onto the various correlations that pervade the cuprate phase diagram. We report resonant x-ray scattering experiments on La_{1.475}Nd_{0.4}Sr_{0.125}CuO_{4}(LNSCO-125) that reveal a significant response of charge stripes to uniaxial tensile stress of ∼0.1GPa. These effects include a reduction of the onset temperature of stripes by ∼50K, a 29-K reduction of the low-temperature orthorhombic-to-tetragonal transition, competition between charge order and superconductivity, and a preference for stripes to form along the direction of applied stress. Altogether, we observe a dramatic response of the electronic properties of LNSCO-125 to a modest amount of uniaxial stress.