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Updated: Jun 27, 2026
Visualizing Uniaxial-strain Manipulation of Antiferromagnetic Domains in Fe1+YTe Using a Spin-polarized Scanning Tunneling Microscope
Published on: March 24, 2019
Direct role of structural dynamics in electron-lattice coupling of superconducting cuprates
Fabrizio Carbone1, Ding-Shyue Yang, Enrico Giannini
1Physical Biology Center for Ultrafast Science and Technology, Arthur Amos Noyes Laboratory of Chemical Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
Abstract:
The mechanism of electron pairing in high-temperature superconductors is still the subject of intense debate. Here, we provide direct evidence of the role of structural dynamics, with selective atomic motions (buckling of copper-oxygen planes), in the anisotropic electron-lattice coupling. The transient structures were determined using time-resolved electron diffraction, following carrier excitation with polarized femtosecond heating pulses, and examined for different dopings and temperatures. The deformation amplitude reaches 0.5% of the c axis value of 30 A when the light polarization is in the direction of the copper-oxygen bond, but its decay slows down at 45 degrees. These findings suggest a selective dynamical lattice involvement with the anisotropic electron-phonon coupling being on a time scale (1-3.5 ps depending on direction) of the same order of magnitude as that of the spin exchange of electron pairing in the high-temperature superconducting phase.
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