Linear-T resistivity and change in Fermi surface at the pseudogap critical point of a high-Tc superconductor
R. Daou, David LeBoeuf, Nicolas Doiron-Leyraud, S. Y. Li, Francis Laliberte, Olivier Cyr-Choiniere, Y. J. Jo, L. Balicas, J. -Q. Yan, J. -S. Zhou, J. B. Goodenough, Louis Taillefer
A fundamental question of high-temperature superconductors is the nature of the pseudogap phase which lies between the Mott insulator at zero doping and the Fermi liquid at high doping p. Here we report on the behaviour of charge carriers near the zero-temperature onset of that phase, namely at the critical doping p* where the pseudogap temperature T* goes to zero, accessed by investigating a material in which superconductivity can be fully suppressed by a steady magnetic field. Just below p*, the normal-state resistivity and Hall coefficient of La1.6-xNd0.4SrxCuO4 are found to rise simultaneously as the temperature drops below T*, revealing a change in the Fermi surface with a large associated drop in conductivity. At p*, the resistivity shows a linear temperature dependence as T goes to zero, a typical signature of a quantum critical point. These findings impose new constraints on the mechanisms responsible for inelastic scattering and Fermi surface transformation in theories of the pseudogap phase.
The characteristic pseudogap temperature T* in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 system has been systematically evaluated as a function of doping, especially focusing on its overdoped region, by measuring the out-of-plane resistivity under the magnetic fields. Overdoped samples have been prepared by annealing TSFZ-grown Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 single crystals under the high oxygen pressures (990 kgf/cm2). At a zero field, the out-of-plane resistivity showed a metallic behavior down to Tc (= 62 K), while under the magnetic fields of over 3 T,it showed typical upturn behavior from around 65 K upon decreasing temperature. Thi…
We study the pseudogap present in cuprate and organic superconductors. We use the dynamical cluster approximation (DCA), treating a cluster embedded in a bath. As the Coulomb interaction is increased, cluster-bath Kondo states are destroyed and bound cluster states formed. We show that this leads to a pseudogap. Due to weaker coupling to the bath for the anti-nodal point, this happens first for this point, explaining the k-dependence of the pseudogap. The pseudogap can be understood in terms of preformed d-wave pairs, but it does not prove the existence of such pairs.
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.
One of the leading issues in high-$T_C$ superconductors is the origin of the pseudogap phase in underdoped cuprates. Using polarized elastic neutron diffraction, we identify a novel magnetic order in the YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6+x}$ system. The observed magnetic order preserves translational symmetry as proposed for orbital moments in the circulating current theory of the pseudogap state. To date, it is the first direct evidence of an hidden order parameter characterizing the pseudogap phase in high-$T_C$ cuprates.
We propose a toy model of electronic spectrum of two-dimensional system with ``hot-patches'' on the Fermi surface, which leads to essential renormalization of spectral density (pseudogap). Within this model we derive Ginzburg-Landau expansion for both s-wave and d-wave Cooper pairing and analyze the influence of pseudogap formation on the basic properties of superconductors.
The pseudogap state is one of the most enigmatic characteristics in the anomalous normal state properties of the high temperature cuprate superconductors. A central issue is to reveal whether there is a symmetry breaking and which symmetries are broken across the pseudogap transition. By performing high resolution laser-based angle-resolved photoemission measurements on the optimally-doped Bi2Sr1.6La0.4CuO6+δ superconductor, we report the observations of the particle-hole symmetry conservation in both the superconducting state and the pseudogap state along the entire Fermi surface. These resul…
We calculate scattering interference patterns for various electronic states proposed for the pseudogap regime of the cuprate superconductors. The scattering interference models all produce patterns whose wavelength changes as a function of energy, in contradiction to the energy-independent wavelength seen by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments in the pseudogap state. This suggests that the patterns seen in STM local density of states measurements are not due to scattering interference, but are rather the result of some form of ordering.
This review describes the main experimental facts and a number of theoretical models concerning the pseudogap state in high - temperature superconductors. On the phase diagram of HTSC - cuprates the pseudogap state is observed in the region of current carrier concentrations less than optimal and leads to a number of anomalies of electronic properties. These pseudogap anomalies apparently are due to fluctuations of antiferromagnetic short - range order developing as system moves towards antiferromagnetic region on the phase diagram. Electron interaction with these fluctuations leads to anisotro…
A method is proposed to test for the nature of the pseudogap phase in cuprates using the recently developed technique of Fourier transform scanning tunneling spectroscopy. We show that the observed quasiparticle interference patterns depend critically on the quasiparticle coherence factors, making it possible to distinguish between the pseudogap dominated by superconducting fluctuations and by various particle-hole condensates.
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.
This article is devoted to a discussion of stripe and electron-nematic order and their connection to electronic properties in the pseudogap regime of copper-oxide superconductors. We review basic properties of these symmetry-breaking ordering phenomena as well as proposals which connect them to quantum-oscillation measurements. Experimental data indicate that these orders are unlikely to be the cause of the pseudogap phenomenon, implying that they occur on top of the pseudogap state which itself is of different origin. Specifically, we discuss the idea that the non-superconducting pseudogap gr…
Amplitude fluctuations of the pairing field are responsible together with phase fluctuations for the pseudogap phenomena in high temperature superconductors. Here we present the more detailed theory of the amplitude and phase fluctuations approach in the framework of a fermionic pairing model. New experimental comparisons are presented for the specific heat of the curprate LSCO confirming the generality of this phenomenological approach. The strong decrease of amplitude fluctuations near optimal doping induces the illusion of a "quantum critical point", which in fact does not exist since the p…
A d-wave superconductor, its phase coherence progressively destroyed by unbinding of vortex-antivortex pairs, suffers an instability related to chiral symmetry breaking in two-flavor QED$_3$. The chiral manifold exhibits large degeneracy spanned by physical states acting as inherent ``competitors'' of d-wave superconductivity. Two of these states are associated with antiferromagnetic insulator and ``stripe'' phases, known to be stable in the pseudogap regime of cuprates near half-filling. The theory also predicts additional, yet unobserved state: a d+ip phase-incoherent superconductor.
We predict a resonance impurity state generated by the substitution of one Cu atom with a nonmagnetic atom, such as Zn, in the pseudogap state of a high-T_c superconductor. The precise microscopic origin of the pseudogap is not important for this state to be formed, in particular this resonance will be present even in the absence of superconducting fluctuations in the normal state. In the presence of superconducting fluctuations, we predict the existence of a counterpart impurity peak on a symmetric bias. The nature of impurity resonance is similar to the previously studied resonance in the d-…
We reveal the full energy-momentum structure of the pseudogap of underdoped high-Tc cuprate superconductors. Our combined theoretical and experimental analysis explains the spectral-weight suppression observed in the B2g Raman response at finite energies in terms of a pseudogap appearing in the single-electron excitation spectra above the Fermi level in the nodal direction of momentum space. This result suggests an s-wave pseudogap (which never closes in the energy-momentum space), distinct from the d-wave superconducting gap. Recent tunneling and photoemission experiments on underdoped cuprat…
Layered doped Mott insulators, such as the cuprates, show unusual temperature dependence of the resistivity. Intriguingly, the resistivity perpendicular to the CuO$_2$ planes, $ρ_c(T)$, shows both metallic ($dρ_c/dT > 0$) and semi-conducting ($dρ_c/dT<0$) behavior. We shed light on this puzzle by calculating $ρ_c$ for the two-dimensional Hubbard model within plaquette cellular dynamical mean-field theory and strong-coupling continuous-time quantum Monte Carlo as the impurity solver. The temperature, $T$, and doping, $δ$, dependencies of $ρ_c$ are controlled by the first-order transition betwee…
One of the leading issues in high-$\rm T_c$ copper oxide superconductors is the origin of the pseudogap phase in the underdoped regime of their phase diagram. Using polarized neutron diffraction, a novel magnetic order has been identified as an hidden order parameter of the pseudogap as the transition temperature corresponds to what is expected for the pseudogap. The observed magnetic order preserves translational symmetry as predicted for orbital moments in the circulating current theory. Being now reported in three different cuprates familles, it appears as a universal phenomenon whatever th…
We report atomic scale characterization of the pseudogap state in a high-T$_c$ superconductor, Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+δ}$. The electronic states at low energies within the pseudogap exhibit spatial modulations having an energy-independent incommensurate periodicity. These patterns, which are oriented along the copper-oxygen bond directions, appear to be a consequence of an electronic ordering phenomenon--the observation of which correlates with the pseudogap in the density of electronic states. Our results provide a stringent test for various ordering scenarios in the cuprates, which have b…
We have studied the magnetic field dependence of the temperature derivative of the resistivity, dr(H,T)/dT, of a number of Y1-xCaxBa2(Cu1-yZny)3O7-d crystalline thin films over a wide range of sample compositions. From the analysis of the temperature derivative data we have been able to distinguish quite clearly between two characteristic temperature scales, (a) the onset of strong superconducting fluctuation temperature, Tscf and (b) the pseudogap temperature, TPG. Significantly different characteristic features of dr(H,T)/dT at Tscf and at TPG imply that Tscf and TPG have different physical …
The real-space localized hole pair is constructed in the Cu-O plane of the hole-doped cuprate superconductors. We prove analytically and numerically that two electrons, due to the nearest-neighbor Coulomb repulsive confinement effect, can be in pairing inside a single plaquette with the d-wave symmetry. The scenario supports the `no glue' pairing picture for the cuprates. Based on the scenarios, the physical origin of the Fermi pocket (or Fermi arc) and the two pseudogap behavior are provided. Our framework leads directly to a unified linear relationship between the pseudogap temperature T* an…
Low-temperature T$^{2}$ resistivity in the underdoped pseudogap phase versus T-linear resistivity in the overdoped strange-metal phase of cuprate superconductors
We propose that an extension of the exciton concept to doped Mott insulators offers a fruitful insight into challenging issues of the copper oxide superconductors. In our extension, new fermionic excitations called cofermions emerge in conjunction to generalized excitons. The cofermions hybridize with conventional quasiparticles. Then a hybridization gap opens, and is identified as the pseudogap observed in the underdoped cuprates. The resultant Fermi-surface reconstruction naturally explains a number of unusual properties of the underdoped cuprates, such as the Fermi arc and/or pocket formati…
The pseudogap phenomena observed on cuprate high temperature superconductors are investigated based on the exact diagonalization method on the finite cluster t-J model. The results show the presence of the gap-like behavior in the temperature dependence of various magnetic properties; the NMR relaxation rate, the neutron scattering intensity and the static susceptibility. The calculated spin correlation function indicates that the pseudogap behavior arises associated with the development of the antiferromagnetic spin correlation with decreasing the temperature. The numerical results are presen…
We use a recently proposed model of the interplane conductivity of high temperature superconductors to investigate the `scattering rate sum-rule' introduced by Basov and co-workers. We present a new derivation of the sum-rule. The quantal and thermal fluctuations of the order parameter which have been argued to produce the observed pseudogap behavior are shown to increase the total integrated `scattering rate' but may either increase or decrease the `quasiparticle' contribution from frequencies greater than twice the superconducting gap.
The normal state of the recently discovered Iron Selenide (FeSe)-based superconductors shows a range of inexplicable features. Along with bad-metallic resistivity, characteristic pseudogap features and proximity to insulating states, reminiscent of the underdoped high-Tc cuprates, mark these systems as strongly correlated non-Fermi Liquid metals. Here, using the first-principles LDA+DMFT method, we show how strong multi-orbital correlation-induced orbital-selective Mott-like physics leads to an orthogonality catastrophe underpinning these inexplicable incoherent features. Excellent agreement w…
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 …
During the last decade, translational and rotational symmetry-breaking phases -- density wave order and electronic nematicity -- have been established as generic and distinct features of many correlated electron systems, including pnictide and cuprate superconductors. However, in cuprates, the relationship between these electronic symmetry-breaking phases and the enigmatic pseudogap phase remains unclear. Here, we employ resonant x-ray scattering in a cuprate high-temperature superconductor La$_{1.6-x}$Nd$_{0.4}$Sr$_{x}$CuO$_{4}$ (Nd-LSCO) to navigate the cuprate phase diagram, probing the rel…
We study the sensitivity of $T_c$ and the pseudogap onset temperature, $T^*$, to low fields, $H$, for cuprate superconductors, using a BCS-based approach extended to arbitrary coupling. We find that $T^*$ and $T_c$, which are of the same superconducting origin, have very different $H$ dependences. The small coherence length makes $T^*$ rather insensitive to the field. However, the presence of the pseudogap at $T_c$ makes $T_c$ more sensitive to $H$. Our results for the coherence length $ξ$ fit well with existing experiments. We predict that very near the insulator $ξ$ will rapidly increase.
We have performed high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy on single-layered cuprate Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CuO$_6$ to clarify the origin of the pseudogap. By using various photon energies, we have succeeded in directly observing two different pseudogaps with two different energy scales which coexist in the antinodal region: one reflects the $d_{x^2-y^2}$-wave pairing strength while the other has a larger energy scale suggesting an origin distinct from superconductivity. The observed two-pseudogap behavior provides a key to fully understand the pseudogap phenomena in cuprates.
We present a short review of our basic understanding of the physics of copper - oxide superconductors and formulate the list of "solved" and "unsolved" problems. The main problem remains theoretical description of the properties of the normal state, requiring clarification of the nature of the so called pseudogap state. We review simplified models of the pseudogap state, based on the scenario of strong electron scattering by (pseudogap) fluctuations of "dielectric" (AFM, CDW) short - range order and the concept of "hot" spots (patches) on the Fermi surface. Pseudogap fluctuations are described…
Starting from the simplified analytic model of electronic spectrum of iron - pnictogen (chalcogen) high - temperature superconductors close to the Fermi level, we discuss the influence of antiferromagneting (AFM)scattering both for stoichiometric case and the region of possible short - range order AFM fluctuations in doped compounds. Qualitative picture of the evolution of electronic spectrum and Fermi surfaces (FS) for different dopings is presented, with the aim of comparison with existing and future ARPES experiments. Both electron and hole dopings are considered and possible pseudogap beha…
In this work the specific heat of a two-dimensional Hubbard model, suitable to discuss high-$T_c$ superconductors (HTSC), is studied taking into account hopping to first ($t$) and second ($t_2$) nearest neighbors. Experimental results for the specific heat of HTSC's, for instance, the YBCO and LSCO, indicate a close relation between the pseudogap and the specific heat. In the present work, we investigate the specific heat by the Green's function method within a $n$-pole approximation. The specific heat is calculated on the pseudogap and on the superconducting regions. In the present scenario, …
We report on infrared studies of charge dynamics in a prototypical pnictide system: the BaFe2As2 family. Our experiments have identified hallmarks of the pseudogap state in the BaFe2As2 system that mirror the spectroscopic manifestations of the pseudogap in the cuprates. The magnitude of the infrared pseudogap is in accord with that of the spin-density-wave gap of the parent compound. By monitoring the superconducting gap of both P- and Co-doped compounds, we find that the infrared pseudogap is unrelated to superconductivity. The appearance of the pseudogap is found to correlate with the evolu…
Within the t-J model, the charge dynamics of copper oxide materials in the underdoped regime is studied based on the fermion-spin theory. It is shown that both in-plane charge dynamics and c-axis charge dynamics are mainly governed by the scattering from the in-plane fluctuation, which would be suppressed when the holon pseudogap opens at low temperatures, leading to the temperature linear to the nonlinear range in the in-plane resistivity and crossovers to the semiconducting-like range in the c-axis resistivity.
A new model of high-T_c superconductivity (HTSC) has been developed by us which we find is able to explain almost all the HTSC properties, like high T_c, origin and nature of NSPG (normal state pseudogap), anomalous superconducting state (SS) energy gap (SSEG) properties, absence of NMR spin relaxation rate coherence peak, existence of NSPG below T_c, nature of high-T_c magnetic superconductivity, external magnetic field (H) dependence of the NSPG formation temperature T*, etc. The coexistence of NSPG and SS BCS energy gap (EG), below T_C, has been predicted by the model before its experimenta…
We investigate the upper critical field in a stripe--phase and in the presence of a phenomenological pseudogap. Our results indicate that the formation of stripes affects the Landau orbits and results in an enhancement of $H_{c2}$. On the other hand, phenomenologically introduced pseudogap leads to a reduction of the upper critical field. This effect is of particular importance when the magnitude of the gap is of the order of the superconducting transition temperature. We have found that a suppression of the upper critical field takes place also for the gap that originates from the charge--den…
Considering a possibility that the pseudogap state in the underdoped high-$T_{c}$ superconductors is not due to a superconducting correlation, we study the tunneling spectroscopy below $T_{c}$ based on the phenomenological models of the pseudogap state. Specifically we consider two cases: (1) the pseudogap is a simple suppression of the density of states with an unknown origin; (2) the pseudogap state is due to an antiferromagnetic correlation. For both cases we calculate $dI/dV$ using the BTK theory. The results are discussed in comparison with experiments.
The angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy studies on cuprates in the pseudogap region reveal an extraordinary topological transition in which the ground state changes from one with a normal Fermi surface to one with four Fermi points. Such a state is not possible without some symmetry breaking, which allows interference between one-particle basis states that is normally forbidden. We also show that the experimental results are quantitatively given without any free parameters by a theory and discuss the implications of the results.
We report the out-of-plane resistivity in the systematically oxygen-controlled single crystals Bi$_{1.74}$Pb$_{0.38}$Sr$_{1.88}$CuO$_{6+δ}$ in magnetic fields parallel to the c-axis. Two characteristic temperatures $T^*$ and $T^{**}$ are found at which a semiconductor-like upturn starts to develop and the magnetoresistance changes its sign from positive to negative at lower temperature, respectively. The obtained phase diagram strongly suggests that the pseudogap temperature correlating to the superconducting gap is not $T^{*}$ but $T^{**}$. The gap opened at $T^*$ may relate to another phenom…
The pseudogap is a central puzzle of cuprate superconductors. Its connection to the Mott insulator at low doping $p$ remains ambiguous and its relation to the charge order that reconstructs the Fermi surface at intermediate $p$ is still unclear. Here we use measurements of the Hall coefficient in magnetic fields up to 88 T to show that Fermi-surface reconstruction by charge order in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_y$ ends sharply at a critical doping $p = 0.16$, distinctly lower than the pseudogap critical point at $p^* = 0.19$. This shows that pseudogap and charge order are separate phenomena. We then find t…
We examine the role of the anisotropy of superconducting critical thermal fluctuations in the opening of a pseudogap in a quasi-two dimensional superconductor such as a cuprate-oxide high-temperature superconductor. When the anisotropy between planes and their perpendicular axis is large enough and its superconducting critical temperature T_c is high enough, the fluctuations are much developed in its critical region so that lifetime widths of quasiparticles are large and the energy dependence of the selfenergy deviates from that of Landau's normal Fermi liquids. A pseudogap opens in such a cri…
We describe the approach of the superconducting state as a sequence of cross-over phenomena. As the temperature is decreased, uncorrelated pairing of the electrons leads to the opening of a pseudogap at T_F^*. Upon further lowering the temperature those electron pairs acquire well behaved itinerant features at T_B^*, leading to partial Meissner screening and Drude type behavior of the optical conductivity. Further decrease of the temperature leads to their condensation and superconductivity at T_c. The analysis is done on the basis of the Boson-Fermion model in the cross-over regime between 2D…
The Josephson coupling between optimally cuprate superconductors separated by a spacer with a finite energy cooperon excitation which contributes to the Josephson coupling strength, is examined. For an underdoped cuprate barrier in its normal state, the YRZ model gives a good description of the temperature dependent enhanced Josephson coupling. A detailed examination of origin of the enhancement shows a significant contribution from the cooperon excitation which is comparable to that from nodal quasiparticles.
The issue of probing the pseudogap regime of the cuprate superconductors, specifically with regard to the existence and nature of superconducting pairing correlations of d-wave symmetry, is explored theoretically. It is shown that if the d-wave correlations believed to describe the superconducting state persist into the pseudogap regime, but with pair-potential phase-fluctuations that destroy their long-range nature, then the low-energy quasiparticle states observed near extended impurities in the truly superconducting state should also persist as resonances in the pseudogap regime. The scatte…
Close to optimal doping, the copper oxide superconductors show 'strange metal' behavior, suggestive of strong fluctuations associated with a quantum critical point. Such a critical point requires a line of classical phase transitions terminating at zero temperature near optimal doping inside the superconducting 'dome'. The underdoped region of the temperature-doping phase diagram from which superconductivity emerges is referred to as the 'pseudogap' because evidence exists for partial gapping of the conduction electrons, but so far there is no compelling thermodynamic evidence as to whether th…
FeSe is argued as a superconductor in the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer Bose-Einstein-condensation crossover regime where the superconducting-gap size and the superconducting transition temperature Tc are comparable to the Fermi energy. In this regime, vortex bound states should be well quantized and the preformed pairs above Tc may yield a pseudogap in the quasiparticle-excitation spectrum. We performed spectroscopic-imaging scanning tunneling microscopy to search for these features. We found Friedel-like oscillations near the vortex, which manifest the quantized levels, whereas the pseudogap was…
We report simultaneous hydrostatic pressure studies on the critical temperature $T_c$ and on the pseudogap temperature $T^*$ performed through resistivity measurements on an optimally doped high-$T_c$ oxide $Hg_{0.82}Re_{0.18}Ba_2Ca_2Cu_3O_{8+δ}$. The resistivity is measured as function of the temperature for several different applied pressure below 1GPa. We find that both $T_c$ and $T^*$ increases linearly with the pressure. This result demonstrate that the well known intrinsic pressure effect on $T_c$ is also present at $T^*$ and both temperatures are originated by the same superconducting m…
The crossover from superconducting gap to pseudogap is considered. We show that the superconductivity is destroyed at the temperature $T_c$, with the superconducting gap being smoothly transformed into the pseudogap. Relations, which are of general interest, between the maximum values of the gap $Δ_1$, $T_c$ and $T^*$ are established. We presents arguments that $T^*$ as a function of the doping level $x$ is approximately a straight line that crosses the abscissa at some point $x_{FC}$. In the vicinity of this point $T^*$ coincides with $T_c$, and at $x=x_{FC}$ the fermion condensation quantum …
We have performed a temperature-dependent angle-integrated photoemission study of lightly-doped to heavily-overdoped La$_{2-x}$Sr$_{x}$CuO$_4$ and oxygen-doped La$_2$CuO$_{4.10}$. We found that both the magnitude $Δ$* of the (small) pseudogap and the temperature \textit{T}* at which the pseudogap is opened increases with decreasing hole concentration, consistent with previous studies. On the other hand, the superconducting gap $Δ_{sc}$ was found to remain small for decreasing hole concentration. The results can be explained if the superconducting gap opens only on the Fermi arc around the noda…
We propose and show that the c-axis transport in high-temperature superconductors is controlled by the pseudogap energy and the c-axis resistivity satisfies a universal scaling law in the pseudogap phase. We derived approximately a scaling function for the c-axis resistivity and found that it fits well with the experimental data of Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+δ}$, Bi$_2$Sr$_2$Ca$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{10+δ}$, and YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-δ}$. Our works reveals the physical origin of the semiconductor-like behavior of the c-axis resistivity and suggests that the c-axis hopping is predominantly coherent.
We argue that that in their recent experiment in which they claim to have found evidence for a time-reversal symmetry broken state, Kaminski et al. overlooked small temperature dependent changes in the superstructure of Bi2212. These subtle changes may manifest themselves by changing the final state configurations of the photoemission process and thus invalidate their ultimate conclusions.
We report high-resolution photoemission spectroscopy of newly-discovered iron-based layered superconductor La(O$_{0.93}$F$_{0.07}$)FeAs (Tc = 24 K). We found that the superconducting gap shows a marked deviation from the isotropic s-wave symmetry. The estimated gap size at 5 K is 3.6 meV in the s- or axial p-wave case, while it is 4.1 meV in the polar p- or d-wave case. We also found a pseudogap of 15-20 meV above Tc, which is gradually filled-in with increasing temperature and closes at temperature far above Tc similarly to copper-oxide high-temperature superconductors.
We present a theoretical framework for a quantitative understanding of the full doping dependence of the optical spectra of the cuprates. In accord with experimental observations, the computed spectra show how the high-energy Mott features continue to persist in the overdoped regime even after the mid-infrared (MIR) peak originating from the pseudogap has collapsed in a quantum critical point. In this way, we reconcile the opposing tendencies of the MIR and Mott peaks to shift in opposite directions in the optical spectra with increasing doping. The competition between the pseudogap and the Mo…
We consider an electronic phase separation process that generates regions of different charge densities, or local dopings, as the origin of the inhomogeneous charge density of high $T_c$ superconductors. We show that it gives rise to a phase boundary potential between such doping disordered regions or grains. The Bogliubov-deGennes self-consistent calculations in this disordered medium yield position dependent superconducting gaps which are, for all dopings, smaller than those derived from the local density of states with a pseudogap behavior. Studying these two sets of gaps for different temp…
Among all experimental observations of cuprate physics, the metal-insulator-crossover (MIC), seen in the pseudogap (PG) region of the temperature-doping phase diagram of copper-oxides under a strong magnetic field, when the superconductivity is suppressed, is most likely the most intriguing one. Since it was expected that the PG-normal state for these materials, as for conventional superconductors, is conducting. This MIC, revealed in such phenomena as heat conductivity downturn, anomalous Lorentz ratio, insulator resistivity boundary, nonlinear entropy, resistivity temperature upturn, insulat…
We present the first demonstration of vortices in an electron-type cuprate superconductor, the highest $T_c$ (= 43 K) electron-type cuprate $Sr_{0.9}La_{0.1}CuO_2$. Our spatially resolved quasiparticle tunneling spectra reveal a hidden low-energy pseudogap inside the vortex core and unconventional spectral evolution with temperature and magnetic field. These results cannot be easily explained by the scenario of pure superconductivity in the ground state of high-$T_c$ superconductivity.
The pseudogap is one of the most pervasive phenomena of high temperature superconductors. It is attributed either to incoherent Cooper pairing setting in above the superconducting transition temperature Tc, or to a hidden order parameter competing with superconductivity. Here we use inelastic neutron scattering from underdoped YBa(2)Cu(3)O(6.6) to show that the dispersion relations of spin excitations in the superconducting and pseudogap states are qualitatively different. Specifically, the extensively studied "hour glass" shape of the magnetic dispersions in the superconducting state is no lo…
We show that the low-energy fluctuations of the valence bond in underdoped high-T_c cuprates, originating from quantum fluctuations of the superexchange interaction, are pinned by the electronic disorder due to off-stoichiometric dopants, leading to a valence bond glass (VBG) pseudogap phase. The antinodal Fermi surface sections are gapped out, giving rise to a normal state Fermi arc whose length shrinks with underdoping. Below T_c, the superexchange interaction induces a d-wave superconducting gap that coexists with the VBG pseudogap. The evolution of the local and momentum-space spectroscopy…
We consider a model of the pseudogap specifically designed to describe the underdoped cuprates and which exhibits particle-hole asymmetry. The presence of electron pockets, besides the usual hole pockets, leads to the appearance of new vectors beyond the usual so-called octet model in the joint density of states (JDOS), which underlies the analysis of Fourier-transform scanning tunneling spectroscopy (FT-STS) data. These new vectors are associated with distinct patterns of large amplitude in the JDOS and are expected to occur primarily at positive bias. Likewise a pseudogap Dirac point occurs …
