The recent scanning tunnelling results of Alldredge et al on Bi-2212 and of Hanaguri et al on Na-CCOC are examined from the perspective of the BCS/BEC boson-fermion resonant crossover model for the mixed-valent HTSC cuprates. The model specifies the two energy scales controlling the development of HTSC behaviour and the dichotomy often now alluded to between nodal and antinodal phenomena in the HTSC cuprates. Indication is extracted from the data as to how the choice of the particular HTSC system sees these two basic energy scales (cursive-U, the local pair binding energy and, Delta-sc, the nodal BCS-like gap parameter) evolve with doping and change in degree of metallization of the structurally and electronically perturbed mixed-valent environment.
Some recent experiments that provide support for the concept of topological doping in cuprate superconductors are discussed. Consistent with the idea of charge segregation, it is argued that the scattering associated with the ``resonance'' peak found in YBa(2)Cu(3)O(6+x) and Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(8+δ) comes from the Cu spins and not from the doped holes.
The doping and temperature dependence of the electronic Raman response in cuprate superconductors is studied within the framework of the kinetic energy driven superconducting mechanism for the t-J model. It is shown that the temperature dependent depletion at low-energy shifts is faster in B_{1g} symmetry than in B_{2g} symmetry. In analogy to the domelike shape of the doping dependent superconducting transition temperature, the pair-breaking peak energy in B_{2g} channel increases with increasing doping in the underdoped regime, and reaches a maximum in the optimal doping, then decreases in t…
We have analyzed experimental evidence for an anomalous transfer of spectral weight from high to low energy scales in both electron and hole doped cuprates as a function of doping. X-ray scattering, optical and photoemission spectra are all found to show that the high energy spectral weight decreases with increasing doping at a rate much faster than predictions of the large $U-$limit calculations. The observed doping evolution is however well-described by an intermediate coupling scenario where the effective Hubbard $U$ is comparable to the bandwidth. The experimental spectra across various sp…
The electronic structure of interfaces between YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_6$ and SrTiO$_3$ is studied using local spin density approximation (LSDA) with intra-atomic Coulomb repulsion (LSDA+U). We find a metallic state in cuprate/titanate heterostructures with the hole carriers concentrated substantially in the CuO$_2$-layers and in the first interface TiO$_2$ and SrO planes. This effective interface doping appears due to the polarity of interfaces, caused by the first incomplete copper oxide unit cell. Interface-induced high pre-doping of CuO$_2$-layers is a key mechanism controlling the superconducting…
Within the t-t'-J model, the doping dependence of the Meissner effect in cuprate superconductors is studied based on the kinetic energy driven superconducting mechanism. Following the linear response theory, it is shown that the electromagnetic response consists of two parts, the diamagnetic current and the paramagnetic current, which exactly cancels the diamagnetic term in the normal state, and then the Meissner effect is obtained for all the temperature $T\leq T_{c}$ throughout the superconducting dome. By considering the two-dimensional geometry of cuprate superconductors within the specula…
We describe a reversible, spatially-controlled doping method for cuprate films. The technique has been used to create superconductor-antiferromagnetic insulator-superconductor (S-AFI-S) junctions and optimally doped superconductor-underdoped superconductor-optimally doped superconductor (OS-US-OS) cuprate structures. We demonstrate how the S-AFI-S structure can be employed to reliably measure the transport properties of the antiferromagnetic insulator region at cryogenic temperatures using the superconductors as seamless electrical leads. We also discuss applied and fundamental issues which ma…
Within the Kotliar-Ruckenstein slave-boson approach, we have studied the antiferromagnetic (AF) properties for the $t$-$t'$-$t''$-$U$ model applied to electron-doped cuprate superconductors. Due to inclusion of spin fluctuations the AF order decreases with doping much faster than obtained in the Hartree-Fock theory. Under an intermediate {\it constant} $U$ the calculated doping evolution of the spectral intensity has satisfactorily reproduced the experimental results, without need of a strongly doping-dependent $U$ as argued earlier. This may reconcile a discrepancy suggested in recent studies…
We analyze the hole doping mechanism in Bi_2Sr_{2-x}La_xCuO_{6+δ} (BSLCO). The singular optimum around x=0.35 is found to be connected with a feedback between the doped CuO_2 layers and its dopant reactant [La^{3+}/Bi^{3+}-O_δ] locking the number of doped holes preferentially on to the universal optimum n_opt=0.16.
We report time-resolved measurements of the photoinduced change in reflectivity, Delta R, in the Bi2Sr2Ca(1-y)Dy(y)Cu2O(8+delta) (BSCCO) system of cuprate superconductors as a function of hole concentration. We find that the kinetics of quasiparticle decay and the sign of Delta R both change abruptly where the superconducting transition temperature Tc is maximal. These coincident changes suggest that a sharp transition in quasiparticle dynamics takes place precisely at optimal doping in the BSCCO system.
Based on our improved SU(2) slave-boson approach (Phys. Rev. B 64, 052501(2001)) to the t-J Hamiltonian, we report a scaling behavior of pseudogap with doping and the temperature and doping dependence of spectral functions. In addition we discuss the cause of hump and quasi-particle peak in the observed spectral functions of high Tc cuprates. It is demonstrated that the sharpening of the observed quasi-particle peak below Tc is attributed to the bose condensation of holon pair. From the computed ratios of pseudogap $Δ_0$ to both the superconducting temperature Tc and the pseudogap temperature …
We present an angle resolved photoemission (ARPES) doping dependence study of the n-type cuprate superconductor Nd_2-xCe_xCuO_4, from the half-filled Mott-insulator to the T_c=24K superconductor. In Nd2CuO4, we reveal the charge-transfer band (CTB) for the first time. As electrons are doped into the system, this feature's intensity decreases with the concomitant formation of near-E_F spectral weight. At low doping, the Fermi surface is an electron-pocket (with volume ~ x) centered at (pi,0). Further doping leads to the creation of a new hole-like Fermi surface (volume ~ 1+x) centered at (pi,pi…
We examine the thermodynamic properties of the hole- and electron-doped cuprates by using the t-t'-t''-J model. We find that the chemical potential shows different doping dependence between the hole and electron dopings. Recent experimental data of the chemical potential shift are reproduced except for lightly underdoped region in the hole doping where stripe and/or charge inhomogeneity are expected to be important. The entropy is also calculated as a function of the carrier concentration. It is found that the entropy of the electron-doped system is smaller than that of the hole-doped systems.…
Within the t-J ladder model, superconductivity with a modified d-wave symmetry in doped two-leg ladder cuprates is investigated based on the kinetic energy driven superconducting mechanism. It is shown that the spin-liquid ground-state at the half-filling evolves into the superconducting ground-state upon doping. In analogy to the doping dependence of the superconducting transition temperature in the planar cuprate superconductors, the superconducting transition temperature in doped two-leg ladder cuprates increases with increasing doping in the underdoped regime, and reaches a maximum in the …
The doping, temperature and energy dependence of the dynamical spin structure factors of the underdoped lanthanum cuprates in the normal state is studied within the t-J model using the fermion-spin transformation technique. Incommensurate peaks are found at $[(1\pmδ)π,π]$, $[π,(1\pmδ)π]$ at relatively low temperatures with $δ$ linearly increasing with doping at the beginning and then saturating at higher dopings. These peaks broaden and weaken in amplitude with temperature and energy, in good agreement with experiments. The theory also predicts a rotation of these peaks by $π/4$ at even higher…
We use scanning tunneling microscopy to investigate Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10+δ trilayer cuprates from the optimally doped to overdoped regime. We find that the two distinct superconducting gaps from the inner and outer CuO2 planes both decrease rapidly with doping, in sharp contrast to the nearly constant Tc. Spectroscopic imaging reveals the absence of quasiparticle interference in the antinodal region of overdoped samples, showing an opposite trend to that in single- and double-layer compounds. We propose that the existence of two types of inequivalent CuO2 planes and the intricate interaction betwee…
The doping and energy evolution of the magnetic excitations of the electron-doped cuprate superconductor Pr$_{0.88}$LaCe$_{0.12}$CuO$_{4-δ}$ in the superconducting state is studied based on the kinetic energy driven superconducting mechanism. It is shown that there is a broad commensurate scattering peak at low energy, then the resonance energy is located among this low energy commensurate scattering range. This low energy commensurate scattering disperses outward into a continuous ring-like incommensurate scattering at high energy. The theory also predicts a dome shaped doping dependent reson…
The Kohn-Luttinger mechanism for superconductivity is investigated in a model for the electron doped cuprates. The symmetry of the order parameter of the superconducting phase is determined as a function of the geometry of the Fermi surface together with the structure of the electron-hole susceptibility. It is found to remain d_{x^2-y^2} wave within a large doping range. The shape of the gap anisotropy evolves with doping, with the maximum gap moving away from (pi ,0), in good agreement with recent experiments. As the shift of the maximum increases, a crossover to d_{xy}-symmetry is found.
We have performed angle-resolved photoemission and core-level x-ray photoemission studies of the single-layer cuprate Bi$_2$Sr$_{2-x}$La$_x$CuO$_{6+δ}$ (Bi2201) and revealed the doping evolution of the electronic structure from the lightly-doped to optimally-doped regions. We have observed the formation of the dispersive quasi-particle band, evolution of the Fermi ``arc'' into the Fermi surface and the shift of the chemical potential with hole doping as in other cuprates. The doping evolution in Bi2201 is similar to that in Ca$_{2-x}$Na$_{x}$CuO$_{2}$Cl$_2$ (Na-CCOC), where a rapid chemical po…
A recent angle resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES) study by Douglas et al. \cite {dessau-comment} on oxygen isotope exchanged Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O$_{8+δ}$ superconductors reported an absence of isotope effect at optimal doping, questioning the previous work by us \cite {gweon-nature}. Here, we report a new result that sheds light on this puzzling discrepancy as well as the nature of the electron lattice interaction in the cuprates: the anomalous isotope effect at optimal doping \cite {gweon-nature}, re-confirmed here, vanishes on a mere 2 % overdoping of holes. This result implies a rapid c…
The unconventional normal-state properties of the cuprates are often discussed in terms of emergent electronic order that onsets below a putative critical doping of xc = 0.19. Charge-density wave (CDW) correlations represent one such order; however, experimental evidence for such order generally spans a limited range of doping that falls short of the critical value xc, leading to questions regarding its essential relevance. Here, we use x-ray diffraction to demonstrate that CDW correlations in La2-xSrxCuO4 persist up to a doping of at least x = 0.21. The correlations show strong changes throug…
High-resolution photoemission is used to study the electronic structure of the cuprate superconductor, Bi2212, as a function of hole doping and temperature. A kink observed in the band dispersion in the nodal direction in the superconducting state is associated with coupling to a resonant mode observed in neutron scattering. From the measured real part of the self energy it is possible to extract a coupling constant which is largest in the underdoped regime, then decreasing continuously into the overdoped regime.
Measurements of thermal conductivity versus temperature over a broad range of doping in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6+x}$ and HgBa$_2$Ca$_{n-1}$Cu$_n$O$_{2n+2+δ}$ ($n$=1,2,3) suggest that small domains of localized holes develop for hole concentrations near $p$=1/8. The data imply a mechanism for localization that is intrinsic to the CuO$_2$-planes and is enhanced via pinning associated with oxygen-vacancy clusters.
We construct a 2-leg ladder model of an Fe-pnictide superconductor and discuss its properties and relationship with the familiar 2-leg cuprate model. Our results suggest that the underlying pairing mechanism for the Fe-pnictide superconductors is similar to that for the cuprates.
This article presents our perspective on STM measurements by Hoffman et al. (cond-mat/0201348) of the vortex lattice in BSCCO. We discuss implications of these measurements for various theories of the cuprate superconductors.
We study the systematic doping evolution of nodal dispersions by in-situ angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy on the continuously doped surface of a high-temperature superconductor Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+x}$. We reveal that the nodal dispersion has three segments separated by two kinks, located at ~10 meV and roughly 70 meV, respectively. The three segments have different band velocities and different doping dependence. In particular, the velocity of the high-energy segment increases monotonically as the doping level decreases and can even surpass the bare band velocity. We propose tha…
The mechanism of field-effect doping in the "123" high critical temperature superconductors (HTS) has been investigated by x-ray absorption spectroscopy in the presence of an electric field. We demonstrate that holes are created at the CuO chains of the charge reservoir and that field-effect doping of the CuO2 planes occurs by charge transfer, from the chains to the planes, of a fraction of the overall induced holes. The electronic properties of the charge reservoir and of the dielectric/HTS interface determine the electric field doping of the CuO2 planes
The energy needed to create a vortex core is the basic ingredient to address the physics of thermal vortex fluctuations in underdoped cuprates. Here we theoretically investigate its role on the occurrence of the Beresinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition in a bilayer film with inhomogeneity. From the comparison with recent measurements of the penetration depth in two-unit cell thin films of Y$_{1-x}$Ca$_{x}$Ba$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{7-\d}$ (YBCO) by Hetel et al. [Nat. Phys. 3, 700 (2007)] we can extract the value of the vortex-core energy $μ$, and show that $μ$ scales linearly with $T_c$ at low dopi…
Differentiation of electron doping and oxygen reduction in electron-doped cuprates
Institute for Solid State Physics, The University of Tokyo（东京大学固体离子体研究所）；Department of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Sophia University（上智大学理工学部）；Department of Applied Physics, Tohoku University（东北大学应用物理系）；UVSOR Synchrotron Facility, Institute for Molecular Science（分子科学研究所UVSOR同步辐射设施）
We develop a theory of normal-metal - superconductor (NS) and superconductor - superconductor (SS) tunnelling in bosonic superconductors with strong attractive correlations taking into account coherence effects in single-particle excitation spectrum and disorder. The theory accounts for the existence of two energy scales, their temperature and doping dependencies, asymmetry and inhomogeneity of tunnelling spectra of underdoped cuprate superconductors.
Starting from a spin-fermion model for the cuprate superconductors, we obtain an effective interaction for the charge carriers by integrating out the spin degrees of freedom. Our model predicts a quantum critical point for the superconducting interaction coupling, which sets up a threshold for the onset of superconductivity in the system. We show that the physical value of this coupling is below this threshold, thus explaining why there is no superconducting phase for the undoped system. Then, by including doping, we find a dome-shaped dependence of the critical temperature as charge carriers …
The nodal $d_{x^2-y^2}$ superconducting gap is a hallmark of the cuprate high T$_c$ superconductors. Surprisingly recent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy of deeply underdoped cuprates revealed a nodeless energy gap which is adhered to the Fermi surface. Importantly this phenomenon is observed for compounds across several different cuprate families. In this letter we propose an exciting possibility, namely the fully gapped state is a topological superconductor.
By using a 60 T magnetic field to suppress superconductivity in La2-pSrpCuO4, (LSCO) we reveal an anomalous peak in the Hall number, located at optimum doping and developing at temperatures below the zero-field superconducting transition temperature, Tc. The anomaly bears a striking resemblance to observations in Bi2Sr2-xLaxCuO6+delta (BSLCO) [F. F. Balakirev et al., Nature (London) 424, 912 (2003)], suggesting a normal state phenomenology common to the cuprates that underlies the high-temperature superconducting phase. The peak is ascribed to the transformation of the "Fermi arcs" into a conv…
In the framework of a two-band model, we study the phase separation regime of different kinds of strongly correlated charge carriers as a function of the energy splitting between the two sets of bands. The narrow (wide) band simulates the more localized (more delocalized) type of charge carriers. By assuming that the internal chemical pressure on the CuO$_2$ layer due to interlayer mismatch controls the energy splitting between the two sets of states, the theoretical predictions are able to reproduce the regime of phase separation at doping higher than 1/8 in the experimental pressure-doping-$…
Based on our recent holon-pair boson theory of the t-J Hamiltonian (Phys. Rev. B 64, 052501 (2001)) we report the doping dependence of the bose condensation energy, superfluid weight and spectral peak intensity. We find a universality of doping dependence in these physical quantities, by equally showing an arch shape in the variations of their magnitudes with the hole doping concentration. We find that all of these physical quantities scale well with the positive charge carrier (hole) density x, but not with the electron density 1-x for the entire range of hole doping. It is shown that the dop…
We investigate the asymmetry between electron and hole doping in a 2D Mott insulator, and the resulting competition between antiferromagnetism (AF) and d-wave superconductivity (SC), using variational Monte Carlo for projected wave functions. We find that key features of the T = 0 phase diagram, such as critical doping for SC-AF coexistence and the maximum value of the SC order parameter, are determined by a single parameter which characterises the topology of the "Fermi surface" at half filling defined by the bare tight-binding parameters. Our results give insight into why AF wins for electro…
We use neutron scattering to study magnetic excitations near the antiferromagnetic wave vector in the underdoped single-layer cuprate HgBa2CuO4+δ (superconducting transition temperature Tc ~ 88 K, pseudogap temperature T* ~ 220 K). The response is distinctly enhanced below T* and exhibits a Y-shaped dispersion in the pseudogap state, whereas the superconducting state features an X-shaped (hourglass) dispersion and a further resonance-like enhancement. A large spin gap of about 40 meV is observed in both states. This phenomenology is reminiscent of that exhibited by bilayer cuprates. The resona…
We present RIXS data at O K edge from La2-xSrxCuO4 vs. doping between x=0.10 and x=0.22 with attention to the magnetic excitations in the Mid-Infrared region. The sampling done by RIXS is the same as in the undoped cuprates provided the excitation is at the first pre-peak induced by doping. Note that this excitation energy is about 1.5 eV lower than that needed to see bimagnons in the parent compound. This approach allows the study of the upper region of the bimagnon continuum around 450 meV within about one third of the Brilluoin Zone around Γ. The results show the presence of damped bimagnon…
Within the t-t'-J model, the electron spectrum and quasiparticle dispersion in doped bilayer cuprates in the normal state are discussed by considering the bilayer interaction. It is shown that the bilayer interaction splits the electron spectrum of doped bilayer cuprates into the bonding and antibonding components around the $(π,0)$ point. The differentiation between the bonding and antibonding components is essential, which leads to two main flat bands around the $(π,0)$ point below the Fermi energy. In analogy to the doped single layer cuprates, the lowest energy states in doped bilayer cupr…
Within the t-t'-J model, the charge asymmetry in superconductivity of hole- and electron-doped cuprates is studied based on the kinetic energy driven superconducting mechanism. It is shown that superconductivity appears over a narrow range of doping in electron-doped cuprates, and the superconducting transition temperature displays the same kind of the doping controlled behavior that is observed in the hole-doped case. However, the maximum achievable superconducting transition temperature in the optimal doping in electron-doped cuprates is much lower than that of the hole-doped case due to the…
Within the kinetic energy driven superconducting mechanism, we study the interplay between superconductivity and the nodal and antinodal superconducting quasiparticle coherences in cuprate superconductors, and find the s-wave superconducting transition temperature is heavily suppressed by the antinodal superconducting quasiparticle coherence, while the d-wave superconducting transition temperature is enhanced, therefore the antinodal superconducting quasiparticle coherence plays a more crucial role in superconductivity of cuprate superconductors.
We study the twisted Hubbard model of a cuprate bilayer at a fixed twist angle $θ=53.13^{\circ}$ using the variational cluster approximation, a method that treats short-range dynamical correlations exactly. At intermediate interlayer tunneling, the phase difference $ϕ$ between the $d$-wave order parameters of two layers is $π$ in the overdoped regime, while it is zero in the underdoped regime, close to the Mott phase. At strong interlayer tunneling, we observe a clear time-reversal symmetry breaking phase near optimal doping, in which the phase difference $ϕ$ changes continuously from 0 to $π$…
We propose a unified description of cuprate and iron-based superconductivity. Consistency with magnetic structure inferred from neutron scattering implies significant constraints on the symmetry of the pairing gap for the iron-based superconductors. We find that this unification requires the orbital pairing formfactors for the iron arsenides to differ fundamentally from those for cuprates at the microscopic level.
Understanding the interplay between charge order (CO) and other phenomena (e.g. pseudogap, antiferromagnetism, and superconductivity) is one of the central questions in the cuprate high-temperature superconductors. The discovery that similar forms of CO exist in both hole- and electron-doped cuprates opened a path to determine what subset of the CO phenomenology is universal to all the cuprates. Here, we use resonant x-ray scattering to measure the charge order correlations in electron-doped cuprates (La2-xCexCuO4 and Nd2-xCexCuO4) and their relationship to antiferromagnetism, pseudogap, and s…
This ``Perspective'' briefly reviews recent work showing that a class of organic superconductors have important similarities to the cuprate superconductors: (i) There is competition betweeen superconductivity and antiferromagnetism. (ii) Uncoventional metallic behavior is observed near the metal-insulator transition. A more detailed review and discussion of the appropriate strongly correlated electron model can be found in cond-mat/9802198.
Based on the analysis of the measurement data of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and optics, we show that the charge transfer gap is significantly smaller than the optical one and is reduced by doping in electron doped cuprate superconductors. This leads to a strong charge fluctuation between the Zhang-Rice singlet and the upper Hubbard bands. The basic model for describing this system is a hybridized two-band $t$-$J$ model. In the symmetric limit where the corresponding intra- and inter-band hopping integrals are equal to each other, this two-band model is equivalent to the …
The doping and temperature dependent conductivity of electron-doped cuprates is analysed. The variation of kinetic energy with doping is shown to imply that the materials are approximately as strongly correlated as the hole-doped materials. The optical spectrum is fit to a quasiparticle scattering model; while the model fits the optical data well, gross inconsistencies with photoemission data are found, implying the presence of a large, strongly doping dependent Landau parameter.
The critical doping levels in cuprates, where the ground state changes its nature (from an antiferromagnet to a spin glass to superconductor to metal), are not universal. We investigate the origin of these critical doping variations by measuring the in-plane oxygen $p_σ$ hole density in the CuO$_{2}$ layers as a function of the oxygen density $y$ in (Ca$_{x}$ La$_{1-x}$)(Ba$_{1.75-x}$La$_{0.25+x}$)Cu$_{3}$O$_{y}$. This is done using the oxygen 17 nuclear quadrupole resonance parameter $ν_{Q}$. We compare compounds with $x=0.1$ and 0.4 which have significant critical $y$ variations and find tha…
We suggest a model for electronic structure of cuprate superconductors that makes it possible to describe evolution of this structure with the doping and provides a new explanation for a number of typical features of cuprates, including the pseudogap and the Fermi arcs. According to this model, the unique electronic structure of cuprates is favorable for the formation of two-atomic negative-U centers (NUCs) and realization of a peculiar mechanism of the electron-electron interaction.
We study the doping evolution of the electronic structure in the pseudogap state of high-Tc cuprate superconductors, by means of a cluster extension of the dynamical mean-field theory applied to the two-dimensional Hubbard model. The calculated single-particle excitation spectra in the strongly underdoped regime show a marked electron-hole asymmetry and reveal a "s-wave" pseudogap, which display a finite amplitude in all the directions in the momentum space but not always at the Fermi level: The energy location of the gap strongly depends on momentum, and in particular in the nodal region, it …
We present conductance-voltage (G-V) data for point contact junctions between a normal metal and the electron doped cuprate superconductor Pr{2-x}Ce{x}CuO4 (PCCO). We observe a zero bias conductance peak (ZBCP) for the under-doped composition of this cuprate (x=0.13) which is consistent with d-wave pairing symmetry. For optimally-doped (x=0.15) and over-doped (x=0.17) PCCO, we find that the G-V characteristics indicate the presence of an order parameter without nodes. We investigate this further by obtaining point contact spectroscopy data for different barrier strengths and as a function of m…
A central question in the high temperature cuprate superconductors is the fate of the parent Mott insulator upon charge doping. Here we use scanning tunneling microscopy to investigate the local electronic structure of lightly doped cuprate in the antiferromagnetic insulating regime. We show that the doped charge induces a spectral weight transfer from the high energy Hubbard bands to the low energy in-gap states. With increasing doping, a V-shaped density of state suppression occurs at the Fermi level, which is accompanied by the emergence of checkerboard charge order. The new STM perspective…
In this Letter, we develop a microscopic theory to describe the close proximity between the insulating antiferromagnetic (AF) order and the d-wave superconducting (dSC) order in cuprates. We show that the cuprate ground states form a configuration of coherent pairing states consisting of extended singlet Cooper pairs and triplet $π$ pairs, which can simultaneously describe AF and dSC orders.
We have studied the doping dependence of the in-plane and out-of-plane superfluid density, ρ^s(0), of two monolayer high-Tc superconductors, HgBa_2CuO_{4+δ} and La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4, using the low frequency ac-susceptibility and the muon spin relaxation techniques. For both superconductors, ρ^s(0) increases rapidly with doping in the under- and optimally doped regime and becomes nearly doping independent above a critical doping, p_c = 0.20.
The bulge in the doping dependence of the basal plane area of cuprate superconductors is shown to be an effect of the particular inhomogenous electronic structure created by the dense packing of paired self-protected singlets (PSPS) in CuO_2 lattices.
Recent development in the physics of high-temperature cuprate superconductivity is reviewed, with special emphasis on the phenomena of unconventional and non-universal low-energy excitations of hole- and electron-type cuprate superconductors and the possible physical origin. A phenomenology based on coexisting competing orders with cuprate superconductivity in the ground state appears to provide consistent account for a wide range of experimental findings, including the presence (absence) of pseudogaps and Fermi arcs above the superconducting transition $T_c$ in hole-type (electron-type) cupra…
Fermiology, the shape and size of the Fermi surface, underpins the low-temperature physical properties of a metal. Recent investigations of the Fermi surface of high-Tc superconductors, however, show a most unusual behavior: upon addition of carriers, ``Fermi'' pockets appear around nodal (hole doping) and antinodal (electron doping) regions of the Brillouin zone in the ``pseudogap'' state. With progressive doping, p, these evolve into well-defined Fermi surfaces around optimal doping (p_opt), with no pseudogap. Correspondingly, various physical responses, including d-wave superconductivity, e…
Using muon spin rotation we determine the zero temperature staggered antiferromagnetic order parameter M0 versus hole doping measured from optimum Dp_m, in the (Ca_{x}La_{1-x})(Ba_{1.75-x}La_{0.25+x})Cu_{3}O_{y} system. In this system the maximum Tc and the superexchange J vary by 30% between families (x). M0(x,Dp_m) is found to be x-independent. Using neutron diffraction we also determine the lattice parameters variations for all x and doping. The oxygen buckling angle is found to change with x, implying a change in the holes kinetic energy. We discuss the surprising insensitivity of M0(x,Dp_…
