Probing Spatial Correlations of Charge Density Waves and Structural Variations in YBCO Using Scanning X-ray Diffraction Microscopy (SXDM)

We propose to study the correlation between the structural properties, in particular, the lattice strain, of the high temperature superconductor (HTS) YBa2Cu3O7-x with the onset of charge density waves (CDW) in the material. STM measurements on CeTe showed that strain only indirectly determines the onset of CDWs in a material through the modification of the local lattice parameters [1]. This experiment looks to confirm the generality of this phenomenon in charge density wave materials. Furthermore, due to the diametric opposition between the phenomena of superconductivity and CDW existence, we aim to visualize the vortex lattice in a field cooled YBCO superconductor through characterization of the CDWs present in the vortices.