Real-time manifestation of strongly coupled spin and charge order parameters in stripe-ordered La(1.75)Sr(0.25)NiO(4) nickelate crystals using time-resolved resonant x-ray diffraction

Y D Chuang; W S Lee; Y F Kung; A P Sorini; B Moritz; R G Moore; L Patthey; M Trigo; D H Lu; P S Kirchmann; M Yi; O Krupin; M Langner; Y Zhu; S Y Zhou; D A Reis; N Huse; J S Robinson; R A Kaindl; R W Schoenlein; S L Johnson; M Först; D Doering; P Denes; W F Schlotter; J J Turner; T Sasagawa; Z Hussain; Z X Shen; T P Devereaux

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.127404

Real-time manifestation of strongly coupled spin and charge order parameters in stripe-ordered La(1.75)Sr(0.25)NiO(4) nickelate crystals using time-resolved resonant x-ray diffraction

Phys Rev Lett. 2013 Mar 22;110(12):127404. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.127404. Epub 2013 Mar 20.

Authors

Y D Chuang¹, W S Lee², Y F Kung², A P Sorini³, B Moritz⁴, R G Moore², L Patthey⁵, M Trigo⁶, D H Lu⁷, P S Kirchmann², M Yi², O Krupin⁸, M Langner⁹, Y Zhu⁹, S Y Zhou⁹, D A Reis⁶, N Huse¹⁰, J S Robinson¹¹, R A Kaindl⁹, R W Schoenlein⁹, S L Johnson¹², M Först¹⁰, D Doering¹³, P Denes¹³, W F Schlotter¹¹, J J Turner¹¹, T Sasagawa¹⁴, Z Hussain¹, Z X Shen², T P Devereaux²

Affiliations

¹ Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
² SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA.
³ SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA and Physics Division, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA.
⁴ SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA and Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota 58202, USA and Department of Physics, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois 60115, USA.
⁵ SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA and Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institut, CH-5232 Villigen-PSI, Switzerland.
⁶ SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford PULSE Institute, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA.
⁷ Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA.
⁸ European XFEL GmbH, 22607 Hamburg, Germany and Linac Coherent Light Source, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94720, USA.
⁹ Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
¹⁰ Max-Planck Department for Structural Dynamics, Center for Free Electron Laser Science, University of Hamburg, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.
¹¹ Linac Coherent Light Source, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94720, USA.
¹² Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institut, CH-5232 Villigen-PSI, Switzerland.
¹³ Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
¹⁴ Materials and Structures Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Kanagawa 226-8503, Japan.

PMID: 25166848
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.127404

Abstract

We investigate the order parameter dynamics of the stripe-ordered nickelate, La(1.75)Sr(0.25)NiO(4), using time-resolved resonant x-ray diffraction. In spite of distinct spin and charge energy scales, the two order parameters' amplitude dynamics are found to be linked together due to strong coupling. Additionally, the vector nature of the spin sector introduces a longer reorientation time scale which is absent in the charge sector. These findings demonstrate that the correlation linking the symmetry-broken states does not unbind during the nonequilibrium process, and the time scales are not necessarily associated with the characteristic energy scales of individual degrees of freedom.