David Hawthorn

Professor; Associate Chair, Graduate Studies

David Hawthorn The Quantum Materials Spectroscopy group, led by Dr. Hawthorn, studies Quantum Materials using resonant soft x-ray scattering and x-ray absorption spectroscopy at synchrotrons such as the Canadian Light Source. We use these tools to investigate intertwinned order in Quantum Materials and shed light on the long-standing mysteries of high temperature superconductors.

Contact information
Office: PHY 359; Lab: PHY 113, 114
Phone: 519 888-4567 ext. 48589
Email: dhawthor@uwaterloo.ca
Website: http://dhawthorn.uwaterloo.ca/

Expertise

Experimental condensed matter physics
X-ray scattering and x-ray spectroscopy
Superconductivity
Resonant soft x-ray scattering
Quantum Materials

Research

Resonant soft x-ray scattering in cuprate superconductors

A grand challenge in condensed matter physics is to identify the fundamental limit for achieving superconductivity at elevated temperatures.Meeting this challenge promises to guide the design of materials where the superconducting transition temperature can reach room temperature, harboring a wealth of transformative technological breakthroughs. The most promising materials for high temperature superconductivity are the cuprate superconductors. These materials have been studied intensively for nearly 30 years. Yet, only recently has it been recognized that superconductivity co-exists with a competing phase of matter, charge-density wave (CDW) order, which has now been shown to be generic to all the cuprates. ¹

Measurements by our group on a low disorder sample of YBCO confirmed the origin of the density wave order in CuO₂ planes of the cuprates, clarified its relation to the crystal structure and elucidated the microscopic character of the CDW order as arising from a spatial modulation in the energy levels of localized electronic states.² This latter result followed directly from our group’s previous work on stripe-ordered La-based cuprates, where a similar energy modulation was identified.³Since then, we have extended these studies to investigate the role of atomic random disorder on CDW order in the cuprates.⁴ We showed that disorder decreases the CDW intensity but, most unexpectedly, has no effect on the correlation length or temperature dependence of CDW order.

Our most recent and possibly most significant studies investigated the symmetry of CDW order in La_2-xBa_xCuO₄ and YBCO ⁵ and electronic nematicity in cuprates⁶.

Development of Resonant Soft X-ray Scattering endstation at the Canadian Light Source

To drive discoveries in the spectroscopy of quantum materials, our group has endeavored sdevelop a world-class endstation for resonant elastic soft x-ray scattering at the Canadian Light Source synchrotron in Saskatoon (the REIXS beamline).⁷ This includes a custom 4-circle UHV diffractometer, a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) chamber for in-situ sample growth, and a multi-technique sample analysis chamber for photoelectron spectroscopy and UHV atomic force/scanning tunnelling microscopy.

Teaching

PHYS111, Physics 1
PHYS360/460, Modern/Advance Physics Laboratory

Highlighted Publications

Nematicity in stripe-ordered cuprates probed via resonant x-ray scattering.
A. J. Achkar, M. Zwiebler, Christopher McMahon, F. He, R. Sutarto, Isaiah Djianto, Zhihao Hao, Michel J. P. Gingras, M. Hücker, G. D. Gu, A. Revcolevschi, H. Zhang, Y.-J. Kim, J. Geck and D. G. Hawthorn
Science 351, 576 (2016)

Orbital symmetry of charge density wave order in La_1.875Ba_0.125CuO₄ and YBa₂Cu₃O_6.67.
A. J. Achkar, F. He, R. Sutarto, Christopher McMahon, M. Zwiebler, M. Hucker, G. D. Gu, Ruixing Liang, D. A. Bonn, W. N. Hardy, J. Geck and D. G. Hawthorn
Nature Materials 15, 616 (2016).

Impact of quenched oxygen disorder on charge density wave order in YBa₂Cu₃O_6+x.
A. J. Achkar, X. Mao, Christopher McMahon, R. Sutarto, F. He, Ruixing Liang, D. A. Bonn, W. N. Hardy and D. G. Hawthorn
Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 107002 (2014).

Distinct charge orders in the planes and chains of ortho-III ordered YBa₂Cu₃O_6+δ superconductors identified by resonant elastic x-ray scattering
A. J. Achkar, R. Sutarto, X. Mao, F. He, A. Frano, S. Blanco-Canosa, M. Le Tacon, G. Ghiringhelli, L. Braicovich, M. Minola, M. Moretti Sala, C. Mazzoli, Ruixing Liang, D. A. Bonn, W. N. Hardy, B. Keimer, G. A. Sawatzky and D. G. Hawthorn.
Phys. Rev. Lett.109, 167001 (2012).

Bulk Sensitive X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy Free of Self-Absorption Effects.
A. J. Achkar, T. Z. Regier, H. Wadati, Y.-J. Kim, H. Zhang, D. G. Hawthorn.
Phys. Rev. B 83, 081106R (2011).

Please see Google Scholar for a complete list of Dr. Hawthorn's publications.

Awards and Distinctions

2004 – 2006 National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada Postdoctoral Fellowship
2003, Lachlan Gilchrist Fellowship
2002, E.F. Burton Fellowship