TY - GEN A1 - Wahlberg, Eric A1 - Arpaia, Riccardo A1 - Seibold, Götz A1 - Rossi, Matteo A1 - Fumagalli, Roberto A1 - Trabaldo, Edoardo A1 - Brookes, Nicholas B. A1 - Braicovich, Lucio A1 - Caprara, Sergio A1 - Lombardi, Floriana A1 - Gran, Ulf A1 - Ghiringhelli, Giacomo Claudio A1 - Bauch, Thilo T1 - Restored strange metal phase through suppression of charge density waves in underdoped YBa2Cu3O7–δ T2 - Science N2 - The normal state of optimally doped cuprates is dominated by the “strange metal” phase that shows a linear temperature (T) dependence of the resistivity persisting down to the lowest T. For underdoped cuprates, this behavior is lost below the pseudogap temperature T*, where charge density waves (CDWs), together with other intertwined local orders, characterize the ground state. We found that the T-linear resistivity of highly strained, ultrathin, underdoped YBa2Cu3O7–δ films is restored when the CDW amplitude, detected by resonant inelastic x-ray scattering, is suppressed. This observation suggests an intimate connection between the onset of CDWs and the departure from T-linear resistivity in underdoped cuprates. Our results illustrate the potential of using strain control to manipulate the ground state of quantum materials. KW - Cuprate superconductors KW - Charge-Density Wave Y1 - 2021 UR - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abc8372 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abc8372 VL - 373 IS - 6562 SP - 1506 EP - 1510 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Mirarchi, Giovanni A1 - Arpaia, Riccardo A1 - Wahlberg, Eric A1 - Bauch, Thilo A1 - Kalaboukhov, Alexei A1 - Caprara, Sergio A1 - Di Castro, Carlo A1 - Grilli, Marco A1 - Lombardi, Floriana A1 - Seibold, Götz T1 - Tuning the ground state of cuprate superconducting thin films by nanofaceted substrates T2 - Communications Materials N2 - Anisotropic transport properties have been assessed in a number of cuprate superconductors, providing evidence for a nematic state. We have recently shown that in ultra-thin YBa2Cu3O7−δ films, where nematicity is induced via strain engineering, there is a suppression of charge density wave scattering along the orthorhombic a-axis and a concomitant enhancement of strange metal behavior along the b-axis. Here we develop a microscopic model, that is based on the strong interaction between the substrate facets and the thin film, to account for the unconventional phenomenology. Based on the atomic force microscopy imaging of the substrates’ surface, the model is able to predict the absence (presence) of nematicity and the resulting transport properties in films grown on SrTiO3 (MgO) substrates. Our result paves the way to new tuning capabilities of the ground state of high-temperature superconductors by substrate engineering. KW - Electronic properties and materials KW - Surfaces, interfaces and thin films Y1 - 2024 UR - https://www.nature.com/articles/s43246-024-00582-5?utm_source=rct_congratemailt&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=oa_20240809&utm_content=10.1038/s43246-024-00582-5 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-024-00582-5 IS - 5 SP - 1 EP - 6 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Wahlberg, Eric A1 - Arpaia, Riccardo A1 - Chakraborty, Debmalya A1 - Kalaboukhov, Alexei A1 - Vignolles, David A1 - Proust, Cyril A1 - Black-Schaffer, Annica M. A1 - Bauch, Thilo A1 - Seibold, Götz A1 - Lombardi, Floriana T1 - Boosting superconductivity in ultrathin YBa₂Cu₃O₇−δ films via nanofaceted substrates T2 - Nature communications N2 - In cuprate high-temperature superconductors the doping level is fixed during synthesis, hence the charge carrier density per CuO2 plane cannot be easily tuned by conventional gating, unlike in 2D materials. Strain engineering has recently emerged as a powerful tuning knob for manipulating the properties of cuprates, in particular charge and spin orders, and their delicate interplay with superconductivity. In thin films, additional tunability can be introduced by the substrate surface morphology, particularly nanofacets formed by substrate surface reconstruction. Here we show a remarkable enhancement of the superconducting onset temperature and the upper critical magnetic field Hc,2 in nanometer-thin YBa2Cu3O7−δ films grown on a substrate with a nanofaceted surface. We theoretically show that the enhancement is driven by electronic nematicity and unidirectional charge density waves, where both elements are captured by an additional effective potential at the interface between the film and the uniquely textured substrate. Our findings show a new paradigm in which substrate engineering can effectively enhance the superconducting properties of cuprates. This approach opens an exciting frontier in the design and optimization of high-performance superconducting materials. KW - Electronic properties and materials KW - Superconducting properties and materials Y1 - 2026 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-67500-2 SN - 2041-1723 VL - 17 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Springer Nature CY - London ER -