6 research outputs found
Two Energy Scales and two Quasiparticle Dynamics in the Superconducting State of Underdoped Cuprates
The superconducting state of underdoped cuprates is often described in terms
of a single energy-scale, associated with the maximum of the (d-wave) gap.
Here, we report on electronic Raman scattering results, which show that the gap
function in the underdoped regime is characterized by two energy scales,
depending on doping in opposite manners. Their ratios to the maximum critical
temperature are found to be universal in cuprates. Our experimental results
also reveal two different quasiparticle dynamics in the underdoped
superconducting state, associated with two regions of momentum space: nodal
regions near the zeros of the superconducting gap and antinodal regions. While
antinodal quasiparticles quickly loose coherence as doping is reduced, coherent
nodal quasiparticles persist down to low doping levels. A theoretical analysis
using a new sum-rule allows us to relate the low-frequency-dependence of the
Raman response to the temperature-dependence of the superfluid density, both
controlled by nodal excitations.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure