Critical Nematic Correlations Throughout the Doping Range in BSCCO

Abstract

Charge modulations have been widely observed in cuprates, suggesting their centrality for understanding the high-$T_c$ superconductivity in these materials. However, the dimensionality of these modulations remains controversial, including whether their wavevector is unidirectional or bidirectional, and also whether they extend seamlessly from the surface of the material into the bulk. Material disorder presents severe challenges to understanding the charge modulations through bulk scattering techniques. We use a local technique, scanning tunneling microscopy, to image the static charge modulations on Bi$_{2-z}$Pb$_z$Sr$_{2-y}$La$_y$CuO$_{6+x}$. By comparing the phase correlation length $\xi_{\mathrm{CDW}}$ with the orientation correlation length $\xi_{\mathrm{orient}}$, we show that the charge modulations are more consistent with an underlying unidirectional wave vector. Using cluster techniques, we show that these locally 1D charge modulations are actually a bulk effect resulting from 3D criticality throughout the entire superconducting doping range.