title: Evidence of chiral order in the charge-ordered phase of superconducting La1.875Ba0.125Cuo4 single crystals using polar Kerr-effect measurements.
abstract: High resolution polar Kerr effect measurements were performed on La1.875Ba0.125CuO4 single crystals revealing that a finite Kerr signal is measured below an onset temperature TK that coincides with the charge ordering transition temperature TCO. We further show that the sign of the Kerr signal cannot be trained with the magnetic field, is found to be the same on opposite sides of the same crystal, and is odd with respect to strain in the diagonal direction of the unit cell. These observations are consistent with a chiral "gyrotropic" order above Tc for La1.875Ba0.125CuO4; similarities to other cuprates suggest that it is a universal property in the pseudogap regime.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA and Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA.
authors.forename: Hovnatan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Karapetyan
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, California 92697-4575, USA.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973-5000, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hücker
authors.affiliation: Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973-5000, USA.
authors.forename: G D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973-5000, USA.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Tranquada
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Fejer
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA and Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA and Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kapitulnik