Multiple Broken Symmetries in Striped La$_{2-x}$Ba$_{x}$CuO$_{4}$ detected by the Field Symmetric Nernst Effect

Abstract

We report on a thermoelectric investigation of the stripe and superconducting phases of the cuprate La$_{2-x}$Ba$_{x}$CuO$_{4}$ near the $x=1/8$ doping known to host stable stripes. We use the doping and magnetic field dependence of field-symmetric Nernst effect features to delineate the phenomenology of these phases. Our measurements are consistent with prior reports of time-reversal symmetry breaking signatures above the superconducting $T_{\rm c}$, and crucially detect a sharp, robust, field-invariant peak at the stripe charge order temperature, $T_{\rm {\scriptscriptstyle CO}}$. Our observations suggest the onset of a nontrivial charge ordered phase at $T_{\rm {\scriptscriptstyle CO}}$, and the subsequent presence of spontaneously generated vortices over a broad temperature range before the emergence of bulk superconductivity in LBCO.