Photo-Induced Phase Transition to a Striped Polaron Crystal in Cuprates

Here we report the evidence of a disorder-to-order photo-induced phase transition (PIPT) under X-ray (h x = 12.4 keV) illumination in oxygen doped La 2 CuO 4 + i . The commensurate striped polaron crystalline phase is induced by the irradiation of X-rays in a cuprate perovskite at hole doping i ¨ 1/8 and high Cu-O micro-strain, k >7%. The nucleation of long range crystalline phases of holes on the oxygen 2 p x,y orbitals in the CuO 2 plane associated with pseudo Jahn Teller local lattice distortions (LLD) is favored by mobile counter-ions (interstitial oxygen ions in the La 2 O 2 layer) in the temperature range 200-350 K. The PIPT appears beyond a threshold dose of 10 17 photons/cm 2 at 220 K and a power law of the polaron crystal growth is observed as a function of the X-ray illumination dose.