Magnetic field-dependence of the basal-plane superconducting anisotropy in YBa2Cu4O8 from small-angle neutron scattering measurements of the vortex lattice

We report a study of the basal-plane anisotropy of the superfluid density in underdoped YBa$_{2}$Cu$_{4}$O$_{8}$ (Y124), showing the effects of both the CuO$_{2}$ planes and the fully occupied CuO chains. From small-angle neutron scattering measurements of the vortex lattice, we can infer the superconducting (SC) properties for a temperature ($T$) range $T=$ 1.5 K to $T_{\rm c}$ and magnetic induction $B$ from 0.1 to 6 T. We find that the superfluid density along \textbf{a} has a simple $d$-wave T-dependence. However, along \textbf{b} (the chain direction) the superfluid density falls much more rapidly with $T$ and also with increasing field. This strongly suggests the suppression of proximity-effect induced superconductivity in the CuO chains. In addition, our results do not support a common framework for the low field in-plane SC response in Y124 and related YBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{7}$, and also indicate that any magnetic field-induced charge-density-wave order in Y124 exists only for fields above 6 T.

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