Remarkable Stability of Charge Density Wave Order in La1.875Ba0.125CuO4

The occurrence of charge-density-wave (CDW) order in underdoped cuprates is now well established, although the precise nature of the CDW and its relationship with superconductivity is not. Theoretical proposals include contrasting ideas such as that pairing may be driven by CDW fluctuations or that static CDWs may intertwine with a spatially modulated superconducting wave function. We test the dynamics of CDW order in La1.825Ba0.125CuO4 by using x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy at the CDW wave vector, detected resonantly at the Cu L-3 edge. We find that the CDW domains are strikingly static, with no evidence of significant fluctuations up to 2 (3)/(4) h. We discuss the implications of these results for some of the competing theories.