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Strain-induced structural change and nearly-commensurate diffuse scattering in the model high-temperature superconductor HgBa2CuO4+δ

Mai Ye1,*, Wenshan Hong2,3, Tom Laurin Lacmann1,†, Mehdi Frachet1,‡, Igor Vinograd1,§, Gaston Garbarino4, Sofia-Michaela Souliou1, Michael Merz1,5, Rolf Heid1 et al.

Amir-Abbas Haghighirad1, Yuan Li2,3, and Matthieu Le Tacon1,∥

  • *Contact author: mai.ye@kit.edu
  • †Present address: Laboratory for Quantum Magnetism, Institute of Physics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
  • ‡Present address: Institut Néel CNRS/UGA UPR2940, 25 Rue des Martyrs, 38042 Grenoble, France.
  • §Present address: Laboratoire National des Champs Magnétigues Intenses, CNRS–Université Grenoble Alpes–Université Paul Sabatier–Institut National des Sciences Appliquées–European Magnetic Field Laboratory, 38042 Grenoble, France.
  • ∥Contact author: matthieu.letacon@kit.edu
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Phys. Rev. B 113, 134507 – Published 3 April, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/ql6r-x3s8

Abstract

We investigate the strain response of underdoped HgBa2CuO4+δ (Hg1201), by synchrotron X-ray diffraction and corresponding simulations of thermal diffuse scattering. The compression in the crystallographic a direction leads to relatively small expansion in the b and c directions, with Poisson ratios νba=0.16 and νca=0.11, respectively. However, the Cu-O distance in the c direction exhibits a notable 0.9% increase at 1.1% a-axis compression. We further find strain-induced diffuse scattering that corresponds to a new type of two-dimensional charge correlation. Interestingly, this signal is insensitive to the onset of superconductivity and instead corresponds to a short-range, nearly commensurate modulation with a wave vector close to (0.5,0,0) and a correlation length of approximately 4 unit cells. It closely resembles the charge order theoretically predicted in the phase diagram of the spin-liquid model with resonating valence bonds on a square lattice.

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Phys. Rev. B 113, 134507– Published 3 April, 2026
  • Received 24 October 2025
  • Revised 22 February 2026
  • Accepted 16 March 2026
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