Incipient charge order observed by NMR in the normal state of YBa2Cu3Oy

Understand

The pseudogap regime of high-temperature cuprates harbours diverse manifestations of electronic ordering whose exact nature and universality remain debated.

• Here, we show that the short-ranged charge order recently reported in the normal state of YBa2Cu3Oy corresponds to a truly static modulation of the charge density.
• We also show that this modulation impacts on most electronic properties, that it appears jointly with intra-unit-cell nematic, but not magnetic, order, and that it exhibits differences with the charge density wave observed at lower temperatures in high magnetic fields.
• These observations prove mostly universal, they place new constraints on the origin of the charge density wave and they reveal that the charge modulation is pinned by native defects.