I discuss here some well established experimental facts which have been shown to be generic of the pseudogap in underdoped cuprates. Some recent developments on Cellular Dynamic Mean Field Theories of the doped Hubbard model on a square lattice are nowadays allowing one to compute physical properties and k resolved single particle spectra. At high temperatures, recent results present qualitative features which perfectly fit the experimental observations done for more than two decades on the pseudogap in the cuprates. Most various broken symmetry states detected recently at lower temperatures than the pseudogap T*, certainly require more complicated modelling, and are not necessarily generic. I suggest that various perturbations due to the order (or disorder) of chemical dopants, which can hardly be avoided in actual materials, might drive the pseudogap electronic matter into specific ground states which exhibit interesting correlated electronic orders.
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.
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…
We studied interactions between the coherent excitations on disconnected arcs along a bare Fermi surface (the so-called Fermi arcs (FAs)) seen by angle-resolved photo emission spectroscopy (ARPES) in several underdoped (UD) cuprates and incommensurate charge density wave (IC CDW) ordering at lowering of the temperature.
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 memory function approach to spin dynamics in doped antiferromagnetic insulator combined with the assumption of temperature independent static spin correlations and constant collective mode damping leads to omega/T scaling in a broad range. The theory involving a non universal scaling parameter is used to analyze recent inelastic neutron scattering results for underdoped cuprates. Adopting modified damping function also the emerging central peak in low-doped cuprates at low temperatures can be explained within the same framework.
Recent angle resolved photoemission spectrascope (ARPES) experiments on strongly underdoped Bi$_2$Sr$_{2-x}$La$_x$CuO$_{6+δ}$ cuprates have reported an unusual gap in the nodal direction. Transport experiments on these cuprates found variable range hopping behavior observed. These cuprates have both electron and hole doping which has led to proposals that this cuprate is analogous to a partially compensated semiconductors. The nodal gap then corresponds to the Efros-Schklovskii(ES) gap in such semiconductors. We calculate the doping dependence and temperature dependence of a ES gap model and f…
In the present work we address a long standing problem of the magnetic ground state and magnetic excitations in underdoped cuprates. Modelling cuprates by the extended $t-J$ model we show that there is a hidden dimensionless parameter $λ$ which drives magnetic criticality at low doping $x$. Hence we derive the zero temperature $λ-x$ phase diagram of the model. It is argued that all underdoped cuprates are close to the quantum tricritical point $x=0$, $λ=1$. The three phases "meet" at the tricritical point: (i) Néel antiferromagnet, (ii) spin spiral with antinodal direction of the spiral wave v…
Several models of the electronic spectrum in the pseudogap state of underdoped cuprates have been proposed to explain ARPES and STM measurements, which reveal only truncated Fermi pockets instead of a full metallic Fermi surface. We consider the transport properties expected of four physically distinct models, and calculate the thermal and electrical conductivity of the electronic quasiparticles. By proposing transport currents that reflect the close correspondence between quasiparticles on the Fermi pockets in the pseudogap and those near nodes in the superconducting state, we show that measu…
There is now copious direct experimental evidence of various forms of (short-range) charge order in underdoped cuprate high temperature superconductors, and spectroscopic signatures of a nodal-antinodal dichotomy in the structure of the single-particle spectral functions. In this context, we analyze the Bogoliubov quasiparticle spectrum in a superconducting nematic glass. The coincidence of the superconducting "nodal points" and the nematic "cold-spots" on the Fermi surface naturally accounts for many of the most salient features of the measured spectral functions (from angle-resolved photoemi…
On the "spin-freezing" mechanism in underdoped superconducting cuprates
这封信涉及的自旋冻结过程中观察到的核磁共振-NQR弛豫或μ子自旋旋转欠掺杂铜酸盐超导体。这种现象，有时被称为反铁磁和超导序参数的共存，通常被认为是由随机分布的磁矩与电荷不均匀性（可能是条纹），这表现出他们的波动在T $_c$以下冷却减慢。相反，我们描述的实验结果，由于波动，涡旋-反涡旋，轨道电流状态共存的d波超导状态。一个直接的解释的实验结果，在欠掺杂的Y $_{1-x}$ Ca $_x$ Ba $_2$ Cu $_3$ O $_{6.1}$和La $_{2-x}$ Sr $%_x$ CuO $_4$，从而给出了冻结的轨道电流波动。
The checkerboard pattern in the differential conductance maps on underdoped cuprates appears when the STM is placed above the O-sites in the outermost CuO$_{\text{2}}$-plane. In this position the interference between tunneling paths through the apical ions above the neighboring Cu-sites leads to an asymmetric weighting of final states in the two antinodal regions of ${\boldsymbol{k}}$-space. The form of the asymmetry in the differential conductance spectra in the checkerboard pattern favors asymmetry in the localization length rather than a nematic displacement as the underlying origin.
We study the dynamical spin susceptibility of a correlated d-wave superconductor (dSC) in the presence of disorder, using an unrestricted Hartree-Fock approach. This model provides a concrete realization of the notion that disorder slows down spin fluctuations, which eventually "freeze out". The evolution of disorder-induced spectral weight transfer agrees qualitatively with experimental observations on underdoped cuprate superconductors. For sufficiently large disorder concentrations, static spin density wave (SDW) order is created when droplets of magnetism nucleated by impurities overlap. W…
Recent angle resolved photoemission \cite{yang-nature-08} and scanning tunneling microscopy \cite{kohsaka-nature-08} measurements on underdoped cuprates have yielded new spectroscopic information on quasiparticles in the pseudogap phase. New features of the normal state such as particle-hole asymmetry, maxima in the energy dispersion and accompanying drops in the spectral weight of quasiparticles agree with the ansatz of Yang \textit{et al.} for the single particle propagator in the pseudogap phase. The coherent quasiparticle dispersion and reduced asymmetry in the tunneling density of states …
We study the effect of thermal phase fluctuation on the electron spectral function $A(k,ω)$ in a d-wave superconductor with Monte Carlo simulation. The phase degree of freedom is modeled by a XY-type model with build-in d-wave character. We find a ridge-like structure emerges abruptly on the underlying Fermi surface in $A(k,ω=0)$ above the KT-transition temperature of the XY model. Such a ridge-like structure, which shares the same characters with the Fermi arc observed in the pseudogap phase of the underdoped cuprates, is found to be caused by the vortex-like phase fluctuation of the XY model…
Central issues in the electronic structure of underdoped cuprate superconductors are to clarify the shape of the Fermi surfaces and the origin of the pseudogap. On the basis of the model proposed by Kamimura and Suwa, which bears important features originating from the interplay of Jahn-Teller physics and Mott physics, the feature of Fermi surfaces in underdoped cuprates is the presence of Fermi pockets constructed from doped holes under the coexistence of a metallic state and a local antiferromagnetic order. Below $T_{\rm c}$, the holes on Fermi pockets form Cooper pairs with d-wave symmetry …
Several experimental and theoretical studies indicate the existence of a critical point separating the underdoped and overdoped regions of the high-T_c cuprates' phase diagram. There are at least two distinct proposals on the critical concentration and its physical origin. First one is associated with the pseudogap formation for p<p*, with p~0.2. Another one relies on the Hall effect measurements and suggests that the critical point and the quantum phase transition (QPT) take place at optimal doping, p_{opt}~0.16. Here we have performed a precise density of states calculation and found that th…
We study a model for low doped cuprates where holes aggregate into oriented stripe segments which have a vortex and an antivortex fixed to the extremes. We argue that due to the interaction between segments a state with macroscopic polarization is stabilized, which we call a ferronematic. This state can be characterized as a charge nematic which, due to the net polarization, breaks inversion symmetry and also exhibits an incommensurate spin modulation. Our calculation can reproduce the doping dependent spin structure factor of lanthanum cuprates in excellent agreement with experiment and allow…
The electrical resistivity rho_c of the underdoped cuprate superconductor YBCO was measured perpendicular to the CuO_2 planes on ultra-high quality single crystals in magnetic fields large enough to suppress superconductivity. The incoherent insulating-like behavior of rho_c at high temperature, characteristic of all underdoped cuprates, is found to cross over to a coherent regime of metallic behavior at low temperature. This crossover coincides with the emergence of the small electron pocket detected in the Fermi surface of YBCO via quantum oscillations, the Hall and Seebeck coefficients and …
de Haas-van Alphen oscillations in the underdoped cuprate YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6.5}$
利用转矩技术在高达59 T的脉冲磁场中观察到欠掺杂铜氧化物YBa $_2$ Cu $_3$ O $_{6.5}$的de Haas van Alphen效应。在$\sim$ 30 T的不可逆性场以上，磁化强度表现出明显的量子振荡，单频为540 T，回旋质量为自由电子质量的1.76倍，与先前观察到的Shubnikov-de Haas振荡非常一致。振荡遵循费米液体理论的标准Lifshitz-Kosevich公式。这种量子振荡的热力学观测证实了在铜酸盐的赝能隙相中存在一个定义明确、紧密且相干的费米面。
Preformed pairs above $T_c$ and the two-gap scenarios are two main proposals for describing the low doping pseudogap phase of high-$T_c$ cuprates. Very recent angle-resolved photoemission experiments have shown features which were interpreted as evidence for preformed pairs. Here it is shown that those results can be explained also in the context of the two-gap scenario if self-energy effects are considered. The discussion is based on the $d$-CDW theory or the flux phase of the $t-J$ model.
