Local structure, stripe pinning, and superconductivity in La1.875Ba0.125CuO4 at high pressure

The interplay between stripe correlations, local structure, and superconductivity in La1.875Ba0.125CuO4 is studied with concomitant polarized x-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) and x-ray diffraction measurements at high pressure. Long-range order of the CuO6 octahedral tilt pattern that pins charge-stripe order vanishes at a pressure-induced structural transition (P = 1.8 GPa at T = 5 K). Diffraction shows that static charge stripe and associated octahedral tilt correlations which survive in the high-pressure phase are effectively suppressed above 3.5 GPa. In contrast, XAFS analysis shows that instantaneous local correlations of the characteristic octahedral tilt pattern remain robust to at least 5 GPa. The decreasing local tilt angle is well correlated with a gradual increase in the superconducting transition temperature, suggesting that orientational pinning of charge correlations can survive the loss of static stripe order.