How pressure enhances the critical temperature of superconductivity in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6+y}$

Abstract

High-temperature superconducting cuprates respond to doping with a dome-like dependence of their critical temperature ($T_{\mathrm{c}}$). But the family specific maximum $T_\mathrm{c}$ can be surpassed by application of pressure, a compelling observation known for decades. We investigate the phenomenon with high-pressure anvil cell nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and measure the charge content at planar Cu and O, and with it the doping of the ubiquitous CuO$_2$ plane with atomic scale resolution. We find that pressure increases the overall doping, as widely assumed, but when it enhances $T_\mathrm{c}$ above what can be achieved by doping, it leads to a hole redistribution favoring planar O. This is similar to the observation that the family-specific maximum $T_\mathrm{c}$ also increases if the hole content at planar O is raised at the expense of that at planar Cu. Thus, the pressure-induced enhancement of $T_\mathrm{c}$ points to the same mechanism.