Q-Balls in the Pseudogap Phase of Superconducting HgBa2CuO4+y

Abstract

Fast and local probes, such as X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray microscopy, have provided direct evidence for nanoscale phase separation in high temperature perovskite superconductors composed of (i) free particles coexisting with (ii) Jahn Teller polarons (i.e., charges associated with local lattice distortions) not detected by slow experimental methods probing only delocalized states. Moreover, these experimental probes have shown the formation of a superstripes phase in the pseudogap regime below T* in cuprates. Here, we focus on the anomalous temperature dependence of short range X-ray diffraction CDW reflection satellites with high momentum transfer, probing both charge and lattice fluctuations in superconducting HgBa2CuO4+y (Hg1201) in the pseudogap regime below T* and above Tc. We report compelling evidence of the anomalous anticorrelation of the coherence volume with the peak maximum amplitude of the CDW XRD satellite by cooling below T*. This anomalous temperature trend of the short-range striped Jahn Teller polaronic CDW puddles is in agreement with predictions of the Q-ball theory of the quark gluon plasma extended to cuprates, providing compelling evidence for non topological soliton puddles of striped condensate of pairs in the pseudogap phase.