Advances in the physics of high-temperature superconductivity

Fermi surface of 3d1 perovskite CaVO3 near the Mott transition

We present a detailed de Haas-van Alphen effect study of the perovskite CaVO3, offering an unprecedented test of electronic structure calculations in a 3d transition metal oxide. Our experimental and calculated Fermi surfaces are in good agreement, but only if we ignore large orthorhombic distortions of the cubic perovskite structure. Subtle discrepancies may shed light on an apparent conflict between the low energy properties of CaVO3, which are those of a simple metal, and high energy probes which reveal strong correlations that place CaVO3 on the verge of a metal-insulator transition.

Strongly correlated s-wave superconductivity in the N-type infinite-layer cuprate

Quasiparticle tunneling spectra of the electron-doped ( n-type) infinite-layer cuprate Sr0.9La0.1CuO2 reveal characteristics that counter a number of common phenomena in the hole-doped ( p-type) cuprates. The optimally doped Sr0.9La0.1CuO2 with T(c) = 43 K exhibits a momentum-independent superconducting gap Delta = 13.0+/-1.0 meV that substantially exceeds the BCS value, and the spectral characteristics indicate insignificant quasiparticle damping by spin fluctuations and the absence of pseudogap. The response to quantum impurities in the Cu sites also differs fundamentally from that of the p-type cuprates with d(x(2)-y(2))-wave pairing symmetry.

Momentum-resolved charge excitations in a prototype one-dimensional mott insulator

We report momentum-resolved charge excitations in a one-dimensional (1D) Mott insulator studied using high resolution inelastic x-ray scattering over the entire Brillouin zone for the first time. Excitations at the insulating gap edge are found to be highly dispersive (momentum dependent) compared to excitations observed in two-dimensional Mott insulators. The observed dispersion in 1D cuprates ( SrCuO2 and Sr2CuO3) is consistent with charge excitations involving holons which is unique to spin-1/2 quantum chain systems. These results point to the potential utility of momentum-resolved inelastic x-ray scattering in providing valuable information about electronic structure of strongly correlated insulators.

Landau's quasiparticle mapping: Fermi liquid approach and Luttinger liquid behavior

A continuous unitary transformation is introduced which realizes Landau's mapping of the elementary excitations (quasiparticles) of an interacting Fermi liquid system to those of the system without interaction. The conservation of the number of quasiparticles is important. The transformation is performed numerically for a one-dimensional system, i.e., the worst case for a Fermi liquid approach. Yet evidence for Luttinger liquid behavior is found. Such an approach may open a route to a unified description of Fermi and Luttinger liquids on all energy scales.

Electromagnetic response of static and fluctuating stripes in cuprate superconductors

Using infrared spectroscopy, we found that changes in the in-plane charge dynamics attributable to static stripe order in La(1.275)Nd(0.6)Sr(0.125)CuO(4) or superconductivity in La(1.875)Sr(0.125)CuO(4) are confined to energies smaller than 100 cm(-1). An absorption peak in the low- omega conductivity of the Nd-doped compound is suggestive of localization effects due to the reduced dimensionality of static charge stripes. Neither superconductivity nor static stripe ordering has a noticeable effect on the depression of the scattering rate at omega<1000 cm(-1) characteristic of the pseudogap state in other classes of moderately doped cuprates.

Atomic-scale images of charge ordering in a mixed-valence manganite

Transition-metal perovskite oxides exhibit a wide range of extraordinary but imperfectly understood phenomena. The best known examples are high-temperature superconductivity in copper oxides, and colossal magnetoresistance in manganese oxides ('manganites'). All of these materials undergo a range of order-disorder transitions associated with changes in charge, spin, orbital and lattice degrees of freedom. Measurements of such order are usually made by diffraction techniques, which detect the ionic cores and the spins of the conduction electrons. Unfortunately, because such techniques are only weakly sensitive to valence electrons and yield superpositions of signals from distinct submicrometre-scale phases, they cannot directly image phase coexistence and charge ordering, two key features of the manganites. Here we present scanning tunnelling microscope measurements of the manganite Bi1-xCaxMnO3. We show that charge ordering and phase separation can be resolved in real space with atomic-scale resolution. By taking together images and current-voltage spectroscopy data we find that charge order correlates with both structural order and the local conductive state (either metallic or insulating). These experiments provide an atomic-scale basis for descriptions of manganites as mixtures of electronically and structurally distinct phases.

Electrostatic tuning of the hole density in NdBa2Cu3O(7-delta) films and its effect on the Hall response

We have used the ferroelectric field effect in heterostructures based on superconducting NdBa2-Cu(3)O(7-delta) and ferroelectric Pb(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3 to electrostatically modulate in a reversible and nonvolatile fashion the hole carrier density of the superconducting layer. Reversing the ferroelectric polarization induces a constant relative change in the resistivity and Hall constant of 9% and 6%, respectively, at all temperatures above the superconducting transition. The cotangent of the Hall angle displays a T2 dependence with a slope that increases as the carrier density is reduced.

Antiferromagnetism from phase disordering of a d-wave superconductor

The unbinding of vortex defects in the superconducting condensate with d-wave symmetry at T = 0 is shown to lead to the insulator with incommensurate spin-density-wave order. The transition is similar to the spontaneous generation of the chiral mass in the three-dimensional quantum electrodynamics. A possible relation to recent experiments on underdoped cuprates is discussed.

Algebraic Fermi liquid from phase fluctuations: "topological" fermions, vortex "berryons," and QED3 theory of cuprate superconductors

Within the phase fluctuation model for the pseudogap state of cuprate superconductors we identify a novel statistical "Berry phase" interaction between the nodal quasiparticles and fluctuating vortex-antivortex excitations. The effective action describing this model assumes the form of an anisotropic Euclidean quantum electrodynamics in (2+1) dimensions (QED (3)) and naturally generates non-Fermi liquid behavior for its fermionic excitations. The doping axis in the x -T phase diagram emerges as a quantum critical line which regulates the low energy fermiology.

Breakdown of Fermi-liquid theory in a copper-oxide superconductor

The behaviour of electrons in solids is well described by Landau's Fermi-liquid theory, which predicts that although electrons in a metal interact, they can still be treated as well defined fermions, which are called 'quasiparticles'. At low temperatures, the ability of quasiparticles to transport heat is given strictly by their ability to transport charge, as described by a universal relation known as the Wiedemann-Franz law, which hitherto no material has been known to violate. High-temperature superconductors have long been thought to fall outside the realm of Fermi-liquid theory, as suggested by several anomalous properties, but this has yet to be shown conclusively. Here we report an experimental test of the Wiedemann-Franz law in the normal state of a copper-oxide superconductor, (Pr,Ce)2CuO4, which reveals that the elementary excitations that carry heat in this material are not fermions. This is compelling evidence for the breakdown of Fermi-liquid theory in high-temperature superconductors.

Detection of Zhang-Rice singlets using spin-polarized photoemission

From a spin-resolved photoemission study on the Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(8+delta) superconductor, we show experimentally that the first ionization state is of nearly pure singlet character. This is true both above and below the superconducting transition and in the presence of doping and band formation. This provides direct support for the existence and stability of Zhang-Rice singlets in high-temperature superconductors, justifying the ansatz of single-band models. Moreover, we establish this technique as an important probe for a wide range of cuprates and strongly correlated materials.

Fluctuation induced diamagnetism in the zero magnetic field limit in a low temperature superconducting alloy

By using a Pb-18 at. % In alloy, the fluctuation induced diamagnetism was measured in the zero magnetic field limit, never observed until now in a low-T(C) superconductor. This allows us to disentangle the dynamic and the nonlocal electrodynamic effects from the short-wavelength fluctuation effects. The latter may be explained on the grounds of the Gaussian-Ginzburg-Landau approach by introducing a total energy cutoff in the fluctuation spectrum, which strongly suggests the existence of a well-defined temperature in the normal state above which all fluctuating modes vanish. This conclusion may also have implications when describing the superconducting state formation of the high-T(C) cuprates.

Localization on short-range potentials in dissipative quantum mechanics

In this Letter, the problem of the existence of a state localized on a weak short-range attractive potential in the presence of dissipation is considered. It is shown that, contrary to the pure quantum case, a localized state is produced in any number of dimensions, while in low dimensions dissipation leads to much stronger localization. The results have physical implications for the dissipative dynamics of objects such as heavy particles in Fermi liquids and for superconductivity in high- T(c) materials.

Diamagnetic activity above Tc as a precursor to superconductivity in La2-xSrxCuO4 thin films

Superconductors show zero resistance to electric current, and expel magnetic flux (the Meissner effect) below the transition temperature (Tc). In conventional superconductors, the 'Cooper pairs' of electrons that are responsible for superconductivity form only below Tc. In the unconventional high-Tc superconductors, however, a strong electron correlation is essential for pair formation: there is evidence that some pairs are formed above Tc in samples that have less than the optimal density of charge carriers (underdoped) and an energy gap-the 'pseudogap'-appears to be present. Moreover, excitations that look like the vortices that carry magnetic flux inside the superconducting state have been reported above Tc (refs 6, 7). Although the origin of the pseudogap remains controversial, phase fluctuations above Tc, leading to some form of local superconductivity or local pairing, seem essential. Here we report magnetic imaging (scanning SQUID microscopy) of La2-xSrxCuO4 thin films. Clear quantized vortex patterns are visible below Tc (18-19 K), and we observe inhomogeneous magnetic domains that persist up to 80 K. We interpret the data as suggesting the existence of diamagnetic regions that are precursors to the Meissner state.

Band-structure trend in hole-doped cuprates and correlation with T(c max)

By calculation and analysis of the bare conduction bands in a large number of hole-doped high-temperature superconductors, we have identified the range of the intralayer hopping as the essential, material-dependent parameter. It is controlled by the energy of the axial orbital, a hybrid between Cu 4s, apical-oxygen 2p(z), and farther orbitals. Materials with higher T(c max) have larger hopping ranges and axial orbitals more localized in the CuO2 layers.

Fermi surface nesting and nanoscale fluctuating charge/orbital ordering in colossal magnetoresistive oxides

We used high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to reveal the Fermi surface and key transport parameters of the metallic state of the layered colossal magnetoresistive oxide La1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7. With these parameters, the calculated in-plane conductivity is nearly one order of magnitude larger than the measured direct current conductivity. This discrepancy can be accounted for by including the pseudogap, which removes at least 90% of the spectral weight at the Fermi energy. Key to the pseudogap and to many other properties are the parallel straight Fermi surface sections, which are highly susceptible to nesting instabilities. These nesting instabilities produce nanoscale fluctuating charge/orbital modulations, which cooperate with Jahn-Teller distortions and compete with the electron itinerancy favored by double exchange.

Low-frequency crossover of the fractional power-Law conductivity in SrRuO3

We combine the results of terahertz time-domain spectroscopy with far-infrared transmission and reflectivity to obtain the conductivity of SrRuO3 over an unprecedented continuous range in frequency, allowing us to characterize the approach to zero frequency as a function of temperature. We show that the conductivity follows a simple phenomenological form, with an analytic structure fundamentally different from that predicted by the standard theory of metals.