title: Resonant X-ray scattering measurements of a spatial modulation of the Cu 3d and O 2p energies in stripe-ordered cuprate superconductors.
abstract: A prevailing description of the stripe phase in underdoped cuprate superconductors is that the charge carriers (holes) phase segregate on a microscopic scale into hole-rich and hole-poor regions. We report resonant elastic x-ray scattering measurements of stripe-ordered La(1.475)Nd(0.4)Sr(0.125)CuO(4) at the Cu L and O K absorption edges that identify an additional feature of stripe order. Analysis of the energy dependence of the scattering intensity reveals that the dominant signature of the stripe order is a spatial modulation in the energies of Cu 3d and O 2p states rather than the large modulation of the charge density (valence) envisioned in the common stripe paradigm. These energy shifts are interpreted as a spatial modulation of the electronic structure and may point to a valence-bond-solid interpretation of the stripe phase.
authors: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo N2L 3G1, Canada.
authors: A J
authors: AJ
authors: Achkar
authors: F
authors: F
authors: He
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Sutarto
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Geck
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Zhang
authors: Y-J
authors: YJ
authors: Kim
authors: D G
authors: DG
authors: Hawthorn
mesh_terms: D003300:Copper / Q000737:chemistry*; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004583:Electrons; D008956:Models, Chemical; D010100:Oxygen / Q000737:chemistry*; D056928:X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D003300:Copper; D010100:Oxygen