Generic character of charge and spin density waves in superconducting cuprates

SignificanceThe essential physics of the cuprate high-temperature superconductors have been a central focus of condensed-matter physics for more than three decades. Although initially controversial, it is now clear that a ubiquitous tendency toward charge-density-wave (CDW) order is intertwined with the superconductivity. However, this manifests differently in distinct cuprates. On the basis of extensive X-ray and neutron scattering studies of the temperature and doping dependence of the CDW and spin-density-wave (SDW) correlations in one representative cuprate and a comparison with existing studies on other cuprates, we show that there plausibly is a single, preferred CDW order at the microscale, whose manifestation at low temperatures is modified in predictable ways by material-specific details, including its interaction with SDW order.