A detailed phenomenology of low energy excitations is a crucial starting point for microscopic understanding of complex materials, such as the cuprate high-temperature superconductors. Because of its ...unique momentum-space discrimination, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) is ideally suited for this task in the cuprates, where emergent phases, particularly superconductivity and the pseudogap, have anisotropic gap structure in momentum space. We present a comprehensive doping- and temperature-dependence ARPES study of spectral gaps in Bi ₂Sr ₂CaCu ₂O ₈₊δ, covering much of the superconducting portion of the phase diagram. In the ground state, abrupt changes in near-nodal gap phenomenology give spectroscopic evidence for two potential quantum critical points, p = 0.19 for the pseudogap phase and p = 0.076 for another competing phase. Temperature dependence reveals that the pseudogap is not static below T c and exists p > 0.19 at higher temperatures. Our data imply a revised phase diagram that reconciles conflicting reports about the endpoint of the pseudogap in the literature, incorporates phase competition between the superconducting gap and pseudogap, and highlights distinct physics at the edge of the superconducting dome.
We present a soft x-ray angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy study of overdoped high-temperature superconductors. In-plane and out-of-plane components of the Fermi surface are mapped by varying ...the photoemission angle and the incident photon energy. No k_{z} dispersion is observed along the nodal direction, whereas a significant antinodal k_{z} dispersion is identified for La-based cuprates. Based on a tight-binding parametrization, we discuss the implications for the density of states near the van Hove singularity. Our results suggest that the large electronic specific heat found in overdoped La_{2-x}Sr_{x}CuO_{4} cannot be assigned to the van Hove singularity alone. We therefore propose quantum criticality induced by a collapsing pseudogap phase as a plausible explanation for observed enhancement of electronic specific heat.
The nature of the pseudogap phase of cuprate high-temperature superconductors is a major unsolved problem in condensed matter physics. We studied the commencement of the pseudogap state at ...temperature T* using three different techniques (angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, polar Kerr effect, and time-resolved reflectivity) on the same optimally doped Bi2201 crystals. We observed the coincident, abrupt onset at T* of a particle-hole asymmetric antinodal gap in the electronic spectrum, a Kerr rotation in the reflected light polarization, and a change in the ultrafast relaxational dynamics, consistent with a phase transition. Upon further cooling, spectroscopic signatures of superconductivity begin to grow close to the superconducting transition temperature (T c ), entangled in an energy-momentum—dependent manner with the preexisting pseudogap features, ushering in a ground state with coexisting orders.
An energy gap is, in principle, a dominant parameter in superconductivity. However, this view has been challenged for the case of high-Tc cuprates, because anisotropic evolution of a d-wave-like ...superconducting gap with underdoping has been difficult to formulate along with a critical temperature Tc. Here we show that a nodal-gap energy 2ΔN closely follows 8.5 kBTc with underdoping and is also proportional to the product of an antinodal gap energy Δ(*) and a square-root superfluid density √Ps for Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O₈+δ, using low-energy synchrotron-radiation angle-resolved photoemission. The quantitative relations imply that the distinction between the nodal and antinodal gaps stems from the separation of the condensation and formation of electron pairs, and that the nodal-gap suppression represents the substantial phase incoherence inherent in a strong-coupling superconducting state. These simple gap-based formulae reasonably describe a crucial part of the unconventional mechanism governing Tc.
Conventional superconductivity is caused by electron-phonon coupling. The discovery of high-temperature superconductors raised the question of whether such strong electron-phonon coupling is realized ...in cuprates. Strong coupling with some collective excitation mode has been indicated by a dispersion "kink". However, there is intensive debate regarding whether the relevant coupling mode is a magnetic resonance mode or an oxygen buckling phonon mode. This ambiguity is a consequence of the energy of the main prominent kink. Here, we show a new landscape of dispersion kinks. We report that heavily overdoping a Bi
Sr
CaCu
O
superconductor results in a decline of the conventional main kink and a rise of another sharp kink, along with substantial energy shifts of both. Notably, the latter kink can be ascribed only to an oxygen-breathing phonon. Hence, the multiple phonon branches provide a consistent account of our data set on the multiple kinks. Our results suggest that strong electron-phonon coupling and its dramatic change should be incorporated into or reconciled with scenarios for the evolution of high-T
superconductivity.
Conventional superconductivity is caused by electron-phonon coupling. The discovery of high-temperature superconductors raised the question of whether such strong electron-phonon coupling is realized ...in cuprates. Strong coupling with some collective excitation mode has been indicated by a dispersion “kink”. However, there is intensive debate regarding whether the relevant coupling mode is a magnetic resonance mode or an oxygen buckling phonon mode. This ambiguity is a consequence of the energy of the main prominent kink. Here, we show a new landscape of dispersion kinks. We report that heavily overdoping a Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ superconductor results in a decline of the conventional main kink and a rise of another sharp kink, along with substantial energy shifts of both. Notably, the latter kink can be ascribed only to an oxygen-breathing phonon. Hence, the multiple phonon branches provide a consistent account of our data set on the multiple kinks. Our results suggest that strong electron-phonon coupling and its dramatic change should be incorporated into or reconciled with scenarios for the evolution of high-Tc superconductivity.
In-plane microwave penetration depth lambda_{ab} and quasiparticle conductivity at 28 GHz are measured in underdoped single crystals of the Fe-based superconductor PrFeAsO_{1-y} (T_{c} approximately ...35 K) by using a sensitive superconducting cavity resonator. lambda_{ab}(T) shows flat dependence at low temperatures, which is incompatible with the presence of nodes in the superconducting gap Delta(k). The temperature dependence of the superfluid density demonstrates that the gap is nonzero (Delta/k_{B}T_{c} greater, similar1.6) all over the Fermi surface. The microwave conductivity below T_{c} exhibits an enhancement larger than the coherence peak, reminiscent of high-T_{c} cuprate superconductors.
Magnetic excitations and magnetic structure of EuRbFe4As4 were investigated by inelastic neutron scattering (INS), neutron diffraction, and random phase approximation (RPA) calculations. Below the ...superconducting transition temperature Tc=36.5 K, the INS spectra exhibit the neutron spin resonances at Qres=1.27(2) and 1.79(3)Å−1. They correspond to the Q=(0.5,0.5,1) and (0.5,0.5,3) nesting wave vectors, showing three-dimensional nature of the band structure. The characteristic energy of the neutron spin resonance is Eres=17.7(3) meV corresponding to 5.7(1)kBTc. Observation of the neutron spin resonance mode and our RPA calculations in conjunction with the recent optical conductivity measurements are indicative of the s± superconducting pairing symmetry in EuRbFe4As4. In addition to the neutron spin resonance mode, upon decreasing temperature below the magnetic transition temperature TN=15 K, the spin wave excitation originating in the long-range magnetic order of the Eu sublattice was observed in the low-energy inelastic channel. Single-crystal neutron diffraction measurements demonstrate that the magnetic propagation vector of the Eu sublattice is k=(0,0,0.25), representing the three-dimensional antiferromagnetic order. Linear spin wave calculations assuming the obtained magnetic structure with the intra- and interplane nearest neighbor exchange couplings of J1/kB=−1.31 K and Jc/kB=0.08 K can reproduce quantitatively the observed spin wave excitation. Our results show that superconductivity and long-range magnetic order of Eu coexist in EuRbFe4As4, whereas the coupling between them is rather weak.
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