New electronic Raman and I.R. spectroscopy results from optimally and overdoped high temperature superconducting (HTSC) cuprate systems are interpreted in terms of the negative-U, boson-fermion crossover model. Distinction is made between those features which follow the condensate gap, 2Delta(p), and those that are set by the local-pair binding energy, cursive U(p). The critical role of doping level psubc = 0.185 is highlighted in conjunction with the matter of developing quasiparticle incoherence, making connection here with recent transport and related results. E//c IR results in magnetic fields parallel and perpendicular to c prove particularly illuminating. The general scheme developed continues to embrace all experimental data very satisfactorily.
Recent measurements of neutron elastic and inelastic scattering suggest that the charge states are spatially inhomogeneous at two lengthscales, atomic and nanometer scales, in both the high-temperature superconducting (HTSC) cuprates and colossal magnetoresistive (CMR) manganites. We suggest that the two-phonon mechanism that controls the charge localization in CMR manganites is also at work in HTSC cuprates, and may hold a key to understanding the mechanism of superconductivity.
In Part I we discuss accumulating experimental evidence related to the structure and origin of the bosonic spectral function α^{2}F in high-temperature superconducting (HTSC) cuprates near optimal doping. Some global properties of α^{2}F such as number and positions of peaks, are extracted by combining optics, neutron scattering, ARPES and tunnelling measurements. These methods give convincing evidence for strong electron-phonon interaction (EPI) with 1<λ\lesssim 3 in cuprates near optimal doping. Here we clarify how these results are in favor of the Eliashberg-like theory for HTSC cuprates ne…
The paper deals with the many stands that go into creating the unique and complex nature of the HTSC cuprates above Tc as below. Like its predecessors it treats charge, not spin or lattice, as prime mover, but thus taken in the context of the chemical bonding relevant to these copper oxides. The crucial shell filling, negative-U, double-loading fluctuations possible there require accessing at high valent local environment as prevails within the mixed valent, inhomogeneous two sub-system circumstance of the HTSC materials. Close attention is paid to the recent results from Corson, Demsar, Li, J…
An attempt is made at reconciling the results of the prime experiments on the high temperature superconducting cuprates from Loram et al. and Davis et al. relating to electronic specific heat and to energy-resolved scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM), respectively, over the question of electronic inhomogeneity. I see the latter, at the appropriate level, as being essential to the evolution of HTSC in these materials, and try to bring into alignment the above key works, not only with each other, but with a wealth of related work. This is undertaken around a negative-U scenario long advocated b…
In Part I we discuss accumulating experimental evidence related to the structure and origin of the bosonic spectral function in high-temperature superconducting (HTSC) cuprates at and near optimal doping. Some global properties of the spectral function, such as number and positions of peaks, are extracted by combining optics, neutron scattering, ARPES and tunnelling measurements. These methods give convincing evidence for strong electron-phonon interaction (EPI) with the coupling constant between 1-3 in cuprates near optimal doping. Here we clarify how these results are in favor of the Eliashb…
Here we suggest a simple physical model of HTSC cuprates that provides qualitative explanation of the main features of these compounds, including the nature of Fermi arcs, pseudogap anomalies and the origin of free carriers. According to this model, the unusual properties of HTSC cuprates result from their unique electronic structure favourable for the formation of diatomic negative-U centers (NUCs) and realization of an unusual mechanism of electron-electron interaction.
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 no…
In this work, the concentration and temperature dependences of the superconducting gap of the HTSC cuprate in the orthorhombic phase are obtained within the framework of the Hubbard model taking into account the exchange mechanism of pairing. The enhanced s*-wave component of the superconducting gap against the background of the prevailing d-wave component in a narrow range of hole concentrations in the overdoped region is found. To elucidate the reasons for such unusual behavior the electronic structure of the low-energy excitations and the structure of the contributions of the pair states to…
The evidence for the spin density wave (SDW) nature of the pseudogap in HTSC cuprates is presented from resistive and direct gap measurements (ARPES, tunneling experiments, etc.). Its d-wave symmetry mimics the symmetry of the order parameter measured in the SC state. The magnetic phase $H-T$ diagram for HTSC cuprates is formed. The possible influence of an additional (SDW) order parameter on the vortex structure in the applied magnetic field is analysed. The behavior is discussed in terms of itinerant electron systems with interplay between superconductivity and magnetism.
There has been considerable effort expended towards understanding high temperature superconductors (HTSC), and more specifically the cuprate phase diagram as a function of doping level. Yet, the only agreement seems to be that HTSC is an example of a strongly correlated material where Coulomb repulsion plays a major role. This manuscript proposes a model based on a Feshbach resonance pairing mechanism and competing orders. An initial BCS-type superconductivity at high doping is suppressed in the two particle channel by a localized preformed pair (PP) [1] (circular density wave) creating a quan…
The realization of high-transition-temperature superconductivity (HTSC) confined to nanometre-sized interfaces has been a long-standing goal because of potential applications and the opportunity to study quantum phenomena in reduced dimensions. Here we discuss HTSC at free surfaces, interfaces, and nanoscale cluster surfaces, and show that the percolative self-organized model of bulk HTSC also gives an excellent description of HTSC in quasi-two-dimensional contexts.
This work is based on the double correlated linear aggregations of holes in checkerboard geometry. It is proved that the pairing function symmetry is - d(x*x-y*y), as been observed experimentally. It is also shown that there is a "superconductive spin gap" for the observation of the magnetic incommensurate modulation peaks, in agreement with experiment. In addition, the unperturbed Hamiltonian is reanalyzed and modified.
The direct exchange integral and the transfer integral are calculated for the anti-bonding wave-function of the HTSC cuprates. The direct exchange integral yields a value three times larger than the indirect exchange of the t-J Hamiltonian. It also predicts positive exchange energy for neighboring parallel spins, contrary to the prediction of zero energy by the t-J Hamiltonian. A modified t-J Hamiltonian is proposed, and the implications of the results are discussed.
Gedik et al have very recently demonstrated using a pump/probe femto-second laser technique that the c-axis lattice parameter of LaCuO4+d temporarily becomes expanded by as much as 2.5% following pulsed laser optical excitation at 1.55 eV. Access to an out-of-equilibrium metastable excited state is observed to develop on a time scale of 30 ps. Subsequently the latter state decays displaying a still longer half-life of just over 300 ps. Observation of the temperature independence of this laser induced interstate transfer and of the linear dependence of the production of the metastable populatio…
Electron-phonon coupling (EPC) is one of the most common and fundamental interactions in solids. It not only dominates many basic dynamic processes like resistivity, thermal conductivity etc, but also provides the pairing glue in conventional superconductors. But in high-temperature superconductors (HTSC), it is still controversial whether or not EPC is in favor of paring. Despite the controversies, many experiments have provided clear evidence for EPC in HTSC. In this paper, we briefly review EPC in cuprate and iron-based superconducting systems revealed by Raman scattering. We introduce how …
Two-particle (2-p) excitations such as spin and charge excitations play a key role in high-Tc cuprate superconductors (HTSC). On the basis of a parameter-free theory, which extends the Variational Cluster Approach (a recently developed embedded cluster method) to 2-p excitations, the magnetic excitations of HTSC are shown to be reproduced for a Hubbard model within the relevant strong-coupling regime. In particular, the resonance mode in the underdoped regime, its intensity and "hour-glass" dispersion are in good overall agreement with experiments.
A qualitative model describing the ground state and the mechanism of superconducting pairing in Cu- and Fe-based high-temperature superconductors (HTSCs) is suggested. In this model, doping by localized charges (as well as physical or chemical pressure) is supposed to be responsible for transition of Cu- and Fe-based HTSC to new ground state common for both HTSC classes where specific mechanism of superconductivity takes place. The resulting HTSC ground state is strongly correlated insulator with not fully filled exciton-electronic band, where the incoherent electron transport is impossible bu…
For underdoped cuprate HTSC within the framework of the two component model of charge carries (holes and Zhang-Rice polarons) it is considered two near degenerate states of hole molecular orbitals in copper-oxygen plane. These are the state of hole molecular orbitals around one-site Zhang-Rice polarons, and another state is two-site hole molecular orbitals around the two-site oxygen cluster of two nearest Jahn-Teller copper ions with antiferromagnetic ordering spins and with common oxygen ion. Taking into account that the vibronic mixing of these near-degenerate electronic states leads to the …
The cuprates seem to exhibit statistics, dimensionality and phase transitions in novel ways. The nature of excitations [i.e. quasiparticle or collective], spin-charge separation, stripes [static and dynamics], inhomogeneities, psuedogap, effect of impurity dopings [e.g. Zn, Ni] and any other phenomenon in these materials must be consistently understood. In this note we further discuss our original suggestion of using Single Electron Tunneling Transistor [SET] based experiments to understand the role of charge dynamics in these systems. Assuming that SET operates as an efficient charge detectio…
A notable role in understanding of microscopic electronic properties of high temperature superconductors (HTSC) belongs to angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). This technique supplies a direct window into reciprocal space of solids: the momentum-energy space where quasiparticles (the electrons dressed in clouds of interactions) dwell. Any interaction in the electronic system, e.g. superconducting pairing, leads to modification of the quasi-particle spectrum--to redistribution of the spectral weight over the momentum-energy space probed by ARPES. A continued development of the tec…
This paper reviews experimental phase diagrams of cuprates and pnictides to demonstrate that specific features of the superconducting phase diagrams in bothHTSC families can be understood within the framework of the proposed approach,which assumes the formation, under heterovalent doping, of localized trion complexes consisting of a doped carrier and charge transfer (CT) excitons. The geometry of such cells containing CT excitons (CT plaquettes) in the basal plane of the crystal is determined by its crystal structure and the type of dopant, so that the dopant concentration range corresponding …
So far calculations of the spin susceptibility in the superconducting state of cuprates have been performed in the framework of weak-coupling approximations. However, it is known that cuprates belong to Mott-Hubbard doped materials where electron correlations are important. In this paper an analytical expression for the spin susceptibility in the superconducting state of cuprates is derived within the singlet-correlated band model, which takes into account strong correlations. The expression of the spin susceptibility is evaluated using values for the hopping parameters adapted to measurements…
We propose a phenomenological model for high-$T_{c}$ superconductors (HTSC) assuming: (1) a microscopic phase separation between superconducting and normal-metal areas in the overdoped region; and (2) existence of a homogeneous superconducting phase only below the pseudo-gap $T^{*}$ line, which shows a sharp reduction towards $T^{*}\sim 0$ at a mildly overdoped critical concentration $x_{c}$. This model explains anomalous doping and temperature dependences of $n_{s}/m^{*}$ (superconducting carrier density / effective mass) observed in several overdoped HTSC systems. We point out an analogy to …
Most of the proposed models of high-temperature superconductivity (HTSC) are based on the short-range electron-electron correlations or/and on a short-range electron-phonon interaction. However, in the cuprates the screening is poor due to a low carrier density, layered crystal structure, and high ionicity of the lattice. We develop further the bipolaron model of HTSC, which explicitly takes into account the long-range origin of all interactions. The long-range electron-phonon (Froehlich) interaction binds carriers into real space pairs (small bipolarons) with surprisingly low mass but suffici…
High-temperature superconductivity (HTSC) mysteriously emerges upon doping holes or electrons into insulating copper oxides with antiferromagnetic (AFM) order. It has been thought that the large energy scale of magnetic excitations, compared to phonon energies for example, lies at the heart of an electronically-driven superconducting phase at high temperatures. However, despite extensive studies, little information is available for comparison of high-energy magnetic excitations of hole- and electron-doped superconductors to assess a possible correlation with the respective superconducting tran…
Recent photoemission work on underdoped cuprates between Tc and T*, the pseudogap temperature, are interpreted within the framework of a previously developed negative-U scenario. From this exposition, incorporating a developed 2q diagonal striping model, detailed understanding follows of the ARPES results, together with certain STM and far infrared optical data. Identification of the origin of the magnetic circular dichroism and related effects exhibited by such materials below T* also appears to have been achieved.
Recent excperiments (ARPES, Raman) suggest the presence of two distinct energy gaps in high-Tc superconductors (HTSC), exhibiting different doping dependences. Results of a variational cluster approach to the superconducting state of the two-dimensional Hubbard model are presented which show that this model qualitatively describes this gap dichotomy: One gap (antinodal) increases with less doping, a behavior long considered as reflecting the general gap behavior of the HTSC. On the other hand, the near-nodal gap does even slightly decrease with underdoping. An explanation of this unexpected be…
The cause of the sharp and universal optimization of the HTSC condensation energy at the hole doping concentration of p = 0.19 is identified within the context of the boson-fermion negative-U modelling and stripe phase electronic organization. Some recent structural, optical and positron annihilation experiments adding further support to this type of modelling of HTSC are briefly examined.
Previously we have indicated the relationship between quantum groups [Phys. Lett A272, (2000)] and strings via WZWN models in the context of applications to cuprates and related materials.The connection between quantum groups and strings is one way of seeing the validity of our previous conjecture [i.e. that a theory for cuprates may be constructed on the basis of quantum groups]. The cuprates seems to exhibit statistics, dimensionality and phase transitions in novel ways. The nature of excitations [i.e. quasiparticle or collective] must be understood. The Hubbard model captures some of the be…
The theory of the high temperature superconducting cuprates, which is based on the condensation of holes into strings in checker-board geometry, was successful to explain the elastically scattered Neutrons by spin waves. Here it is extended to analyze the inward dispersion curve of its inelastic counterpart, up to the resonance energy- . This extension is done by applying the perturbation theory of the linear response to the condensed strings. The approximated susceptibility is derived by means of the ring diagram. The dispersion relation is obtained from the dispersion of the poles of the sus…
In the underdoped, overdoped, Zn-doped or stripe-forming regions of high-$T_{c}$ cuprate superconductors (HTSC), the superfluid density $n_{s}/m^{*}$ at $T\to 0$ shows universal correlations with $T_{c}$. Similar strong correlations exist between 2-dimensional superfluid density and superfluid transition temperature in thin films of $^{4}$He in non-porous or porous media, and $^{4}$He/$^{3}$He film adsorbed on porous media. Based on analogy between HTSC and He film systems, we propose a model for cuprates where: (1) the overdoped region is characterized by a phase separation similar to $^{4}$H…
Earlier we have proposed a new approach to the analysis of superconducting phase diagrams for cuprates and pnictides and have shown that the positions of superconducting domes on the diagrams can be predicted with high accuracy proceeding from only the crystal structure of a particular compound. The proposed approach uses the concept of the self-localization of doped carriers due to their formation of trion complexes that represent a bound state of the doped carrier and charge transfer excitons emerging under its influence. Here, as exemplified by cuprates, we show that the use of the proposed…
We propose a generalized model of electronic structure modification in HTSC cuprates and ferropnictides under doping. In this model the role of doping consists in only a local change in the electronic structures of the parent phases of cuprates and ferropnictides due to the formation of trion complexes comprising a doped carrier localized in unit cell and charge transfer (CT) excitons around it. These CT excitons emerge in CuO4 or AsFe4 plaquettes in the CuO2 or FeAs basal planes (CT plaquettes) under the influence of doped carrier, restricting its itinerancy. As the dopant concentration is in…
The possibility of inducing topological superconductivity with cuprate high-temperature superconductors (HTSC) is studied for various heterostructures. We first consider a ballistic planar junction between a HTSC and a metallic ferromagnet. We assume that inversion symmetry breaking at the tunnel barrier gives rise to Rashba spin-orbit coupling in the barrier and allows equal-spin triplet superconductivity to exist in the ferromagnet. Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations are obtained by explicitly modeling the barrier, and taking account of the transport anisotropy in the HTSC. By making use of the …
Many puzzling properties of high-$T_c$ superconducting (HTSC) copper oxides have deep roots in the nature of the antinodal quasiparticles, the elementary excitations with wavevector parallel to the Cu-O bonds. These electronic states are most affected by the onset of antiferromagnetic correlations and charge instabilities and they host the maximum of the anisotropic superconducting gap and pseudogap. In this work, we use time-resolved extreme-ultra-violet (EUV) photoemission with proper photon energy (18 eV) and time-resolution (50 fs) to disclose the ultrafast dynamics of the antinodal states…
The oxygen O2p_sigma and copper Cu4s and Cu3d_x^2-y^2 orbitals are involved in a simple LCAO model for determination of the conduction band and the oxygen-oxygen hopping is considered as a small parameter with respect to the transition amplitude between nearest neighbours. The traditional Cooper pairing is obtained by taking into account the double-electron exchange between the nearest neighbours within the two-dimensional CuO_2 plane. The equation for the superconducting gap is obtained as a result of the standard BCS treatment. It is shown that the order parameter could have either s-type or…
25 years after discovery of high-temperature superconductivity (HTSC) in La$_{2-x}$Ba$_x$CuO$_4$ (LBCO), the HTSC continues to pose some of the biggest challenges in materials science. Cuprates are fundamentally different from conventional superconductors in that the metallic conductivity and superconductivity are induced by doping carriers into an antiferromagnetically ordered correlated insulator. In such systems, the normal state is expected to be quite different from a Landau-Fermi liquid - the basis for the conventional BCS theory of superconductivity. The situation is additionally compli…
The cuprates seem to exhibit statistics, dimensionality and phase transitions in novel ways. The nature of excitations [i.e. quasiparticle or collective], spin-charge separation, stripes [static and dynamics], inhomogeneities, psuedogap, effect of impurity dopings [e.g. Zn, Ni] and any other phenomenon in these materials must be consistently understood. In this note we suggest Single Electron Tunneling Transistor [SET] based experiments to understand the role of charge dynamics in these systems. Assuming that SET operates as an efficient charge detection system we can expect to understand the …
It is demonstrated that high critical temperature of superconducting transition in cuprates and new iron-based superconductors is reached because of the Little-Ginzburg exciton mechanism of HTSC when Cooper pairing of mobile charge carriers is mediated by excitons which characteristic energy is essentially higher than Debye one for phonons. The effectiveness of such mechanism in these doped compounds is provided due to a series of planar Ginzburg HTSC-'sandwiches': 'insulator'-'metal'- 'insulator' (stripe structure) naturally forming in conducting planes below the onset pseudogap temperature i…
A term first coined by Mott back in 1968 a `pseudogap' is the depletion of the electronic density of states at the Fermi level, and pseudogaps have been observed in many systems. However, since the discovery of the high temperature superconductors (HTSC) in 1986, the central role attributed to the pseudogap in these systems has meant that by many researchers now associate the term pseudogap exclusively with the HTSC phenomenon. Recently, the problem has got a lot of new attention with the rediscovery of two distinct energy scales (`two-gap scenario') and charge density waves patterns in the cu…
In strongly-correlated systems the electronic properties at the Fermi energy (EF) are intertwined with those at high energy scales. One of the pivotal challenges in the field of high-temperature superconductivity (HTSC) is to understand whether and how the high energy scale physics associated with Mott-like excitations (|E-E$_{F}$|>1 eV) is involved in the condensate formation. Here we show the interplay between the many-body high-energy CuO2 excitations at 1.5 and 2 eV and the onset of HTSC. This is revealed by a novel optical pump supercontinuum-probe technique, which provides access to the …
Previously we have indicated the relationship between quantum groups and strings via WZWN models. In this note we discuss this relationship further and point out its possible applications to cuprates and related materials. The connection between quantum groups and strings is one way of seeing the validity of our previous conjecture [i.e. that a theory for cuprates may be constructed on the basis of quantum groups]. The cuprates seems to exhibit statistics, dimensionality and phase transitions in novel ways. The nature of excitations [i.e. quasiparticle or collective] must be understood. The Hu…
It is supported a recent proposal by Maksimov that electron-phonon interaction (EPI) (Gruneisen-Bloch formulae) determines the linearity of temperature dependence of resistivity for both HTSC-cuprates and most of metals at T near above 0.2 of their characteristic Debye temperature (normal state for HTSC). However, it is emphasized here that in this T-region the resistivity is not proportional to T but is only linear in T. This fact indicates to T-independent contribution to normal-state resistivity in HTSC-cuprates (magnetic contribution, in our treatment) which behavior, in its turn, indicate…
The purpose of the present Comment is to emphasize that the missing link has already been found, and the correlation reported by Pavarini et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 047003 (2001) [http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.047003] can be used as a crucial test for theoretical models of HTSC. Perhaps the simplest possible interpretation, though one could search for alternatives, is given within the framework of the Cu 4s-Cu 3d two-electron exchange theory of HTSC, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 15, 4429 (2003) [http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/15/25/312].
Extensive muon spin relaxation measurements have been performed to determine the magnetic field penetration depth in high-Tc cuprate superconductors with simple hole doping, Zn-doping, overdoping, and formation of static SDW nano islands. System dependence of $n_{s}/m^{*}$ (superconducting carrier density / effective mass) reveals universal correlations between Tc and $n_{s}/m^{*}$ in all these cases with / without perturbation. Evidence for spontaneous and microscopic phase separation was obtained in the cases with strong perturbation, i.e., Zn-doping. overdoping and SDW nano-islands. The len…
Arguably the most intriguing aspect of the physics of cuprates is the close proximity between the record high-Tc superconductivity (HTSC) and the antiferromagnetic charge-transfer insulating state driven by Mott-like electron correlations. These are responsible for the intimate connection between high and low-energy scale physics, and their key role in the mechanism of HTSC was conjectured very early on. More recently, the detection of quantum oscillations in high-magnetic field experiments on YBa2Cu3O6+x (YBCO) has suggested the existence of a Fermi surface of well-defined quasiparticles in u…
We have performed a temperature dependent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) study of the tri-layer high-$T_c$ cuprate superconductor (HTSC) Bi$_2$Sr$_2$Ca$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{10+δ}$ (Bi2223), and have shown that the \textquotedblleft effective\textquotedblright superconducting (SC) gap $Δ_{\rm{sc}}$ defined at the end point of the Fermi arc and the $T_c$ (= 110 K) approximately satisfies the weak-coupling BCS-relationship 2$Δ_{\rm{sc}}$ = 4.3$k_{\rm{B}}T_c$. Combining this result with previous ARPES results on single- and double-layer cuprates, we show that the relationship between 2$…
An electrostatic field, which is applied to a gated high-temperature superconducting (HTSC) film, is believed to affect the film similar to charge doping. Analyzing the pairing in terms of a t-J model, we show that a coupling to electric dipoles and phonons at the interface of film and dielectric gate localizes the injected charge and leads to a superconductor-insulator transition. This results in a dramatic modification of the doping dependent phase diagram close to and above the optimal doping which is expected to shed light on recent electric field-effect experiments with HTSC cuprates.
This paper seeks to synthesize much recent work on the HTSC materials around the latest energy resolved scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) results from Davis and coworkers. The conductance diffuse scattering results in particular are employed as point of entry to discuss bosonic modes, both of condensed and uncondensed form. The bosonic mode picture is essential to understanding an ever growing range of observations within the HTSC field. The work is expounded within the context of the negative-U, boson-fermion modelling long advocated by the author. This general approach is presently seeing…
Basic experimental facts related to ARPES, tunnelling, optics ad neutron scattering measurements are discussed. They give evidence for the relevance of the electron-phonon interaction (EPI) in pairing mechanism of HTSC cuprates. A controllable theory for strong correlations and their effects on EPI is discussed which is based on the 1/N expansion method in the t-J model. Strong correlations renormalize EPI and other charge-fluctuation properties (by including nonmagnetic impurity scattering) and the forward scattering peak (FSP) appears in the effective interactions. Pronounced FSP in EPI of H…
Many of the electronic properties of high-temperature cuprate superconductors (HTSC) are strongly dependent on the number of charge carriers put into the CuO$_2$ planes (doping). Superconductivity appears over a dome-shaped region of the doping-temperature phase diagram. The highest critical temperature (Tc) is obtained for the so-called "optimum doping". The doping mechanism is usually chemical; it can be done by cationic substitution. This is the case, for example, in La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ where La3+ is replaced by Sr2+ thus adding a hole to the CuO$_2$ planes. A similar effect is achieved…
Understanding the role played by broken symmetry states such as charge, spin, and orbital orders in the mechanism of emergent properties such as high-temperature superconductivity (HTSC) is a major current topic in materials research. That the order may be within one unit cell, such as nematic, was only recently considered theoretically, but its observation in the iron-pnictide and doped cuprate superconductors places it at the forefront of current research. Here we show that the recently discovered BaTi$_2$Sb$_2$O superconductor and its "parent" compound BaTi$_2$As$_2$O form a symmetry-breaki…
FeSe is employed as reference material to elucidate the observed high Tc superconducting behaviour of the related layered iron pnictides. The structural and ensuing semimetallic band structural forms are here rather unusual, with the resulting ground state details extremely sensitive to the precise shape of the Fe-X coordination unit. The superconductivity is presented as coming from a combination of Resonant Valence Bond (RVB) and Excitonic Insulator physics, and incorporating Boson-Fermion degeneracy. Although sourced in a very different fashion the latter leads to some similarites with the …
This paper seeks to synthesize much recent work on the HTSC materials around the latest STM results from Davis and coworkers. The conductance diffuse scattering results in particular are used as point of entry to discuss bosonic modes, both of condensed and uncondensed form. The bosonic mode picture is essential to understanding an ever growing range of observations within the HTSC field. The work is expounded within the context of the negative-U, boson-fermion modelling long advocated by the author. This general approach is presently seeing much theoretical development, into which I have look…
There are large isotope effects in the phonon kinks observed in photoemission spectra (ARPES) of optimally doped cuprate high temperature superconductors (HTSC), but they are quite different (Gweon et al. 2004) from those expected for a nearly free electron metal with strong electron-phonon interactions (Tang et al. 2003). These differences, together with many other anomalies in infrared spectra, seem to suggest that other particles (such as magnons) must be contributing to HTSC. Here we use topological (non-Hamiltonian) methods to discuss the data, emphasizing nanoscale phase separation and t…
Starting with a minimal model for the CuO$_2$ planes with the on-site Hilbert space reduced to a charge triplet of the three effective valence centers [CuO$_4$]$^{7-,6-,5-}$ (nominally Cu$^{1+,2+,3+}$) with different conventional spin, different orbital symmetry, and different local lattice configuration, we develop a unified non-BCS spin-pseudospin model to describe the main phase states of doped cuprates. We argue that antiferromagnetic insulating, charge ordered, superconducting, and Fermi-liquid phases are possible phase states of a model parent cuprate, while typical phase state of a dope…
