TY - GEN A1 - Miao, Hu A1 - Fumagalli, Roberto A1 - Rossi, M. A1 - Lorenzana, José A1 - Seibold, Götz A1 - Yakhou-Harris, Flora A1 - Kummer, K. A1 - Brookes, Nicholas B. A1 - Gu, G. D. A1 - Braicovich, Lucio A1 - Ghiringhelli, Giacomo Claudio A1 - Dean, M. P. M. T1 - Formation of Incommensurate Charge Density Waves in Cuprates T2 - Physical Review X N2 - Although charge density waves (CDWs) are omnipresent in cuprate high-temperature superconductors, they occur at significantly different wave vectors, confounding efforts to understand their formation mechanism. Here, we use resonant inelastic x-ray scattering to investigate the doping- and temperature-dependent CDW evolution in La₂₋ₓBaₓCuO₄ (x=0.115–0.155). We discover that the CDW develops in two stages with decreasing temperature. A precursor CDW with a quasicommensurate wave vector emerges first at high temperature. This doping-independent precursor CDW correlation originates from the CDW phase mode coupled with a phonon and “seeds” the low-temperature CDW with a strongly doping-dependent wave vector. Our observation reveals the precursor CDW and its phase mode as the building blocks of the highly intertwined electronic ground state in the cuprates. KW - Research Areas Charge density waves KW - Electrical Properties KW - Cuprates KW - Strongly correlated systems KW - Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering KW - Superconductivity Y1 - 2019 UR - https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-UBICO/frontdoor/index/index/docId/24511 UR - https://journals.aps.org/prx/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevX.9.031042 SN - 2160-3308 VL - 9 IS - 3 SP - 031042-1 EP - 031042-11 ER -