75 research outputs found
Fragile charge order in the nonsuperconducting ground state of the underdoped high-temperature superconductors.
The normal state in the hole underdoped copper oxide superconductors has proven to be a source of mystery for decades. The measurement of a small Fermi surface by quantum oscillations on suppression of superconductivity by high applied magnetic fields, together with complementary spectroscopic measurements in the hole underdoped copper oxide superconductors, point to a nodal electron pocket from charge order in YBa2Cu3(6+δ). Here, we report quantum oscillation measurements in the closely related stoichiometric material YBa2Cu4O8, which reveals similar Fermi surface properties to YBa2Cu3(6+δ), despite the nonobservation of charge order signatures in the same spectroscopic techniques, such as X-ray diffraction, that revealed signatures of charge order in YBa2Cu3(6+δ). Fermi surface reconstruction in YBa2Cu4O8 is suggested to occur from magnetic field enhancement of charge order that is rendered fragile in zero magnetic fields because of its potential unconventional nature and/or its occurrence as a subsidiary to more robust underlying electronic correlations.B.T., A.S, and S.E.S. acknowledge support from the
Royal Society, the Winton Programme for the Physics of
Sustainability, and the European Research Council under
the European Unions Seventh Framework Programme
(grant number FP/2007-2013)/ ERC Grant Agreement
number 337425. N.H., Z.Z., F.F.B., and B.J.R. acknowl-
edge support for high-magnetic-field experiments from
the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, BES-
MSE `Science of 100 Tesla' programme. G.G.L. acknowl-
edges support from EPSRC grant EP/K012894/1. Work
at NIU was supported by The Institute for Nanoscience,
Engineering, and Technology - InSET. A portion of this
work was performed at the National High Magnetic Field
Laboratory, which is supported by NSF co-operative
agreement number DMR-0654118, the state of Florida,
and the DOE. We are grateful for the experimental assis-
tance provided by National High Magnetic Field Labora-
tory personnel, including J. B. Betts, Y. Coulter, M. Gor-
don, C. H. Mielke, A. Parish, R. McDonald, D. Rickel,
and D. Roybal.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the National Academy of Sciences via http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.150416411
Author Correction: Superconductivity mediated by polar modes in ferroelectric metals.
An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper
Field-induced quantum fluctuations in the heavy fermion superconductor CeCu2Ge2
Quantum-mechanical fluctuations in strongly correlated electron systems cause
unconventional phenomena such as non-Fermi liquid behavior, and arguably high
temperature superconductivity. Here we report the discovery of a field-tuned
quantum critical phenomenon in stoichiometric CeCu2Ge2, a spin density wave
ordered heavy fermion metal that exhibits unconventional superconductivity
under ~ 10 GPa of applied pressure. Our finding of the associated quantum
critical spin fluctuations of the antiferromagnetic spin density wave order,
dominating the local fluctuations due to single-site Kondo effect, provide new
information about the underlying mechanism that can be important in
understanding superconductivity in this novel compound.Comment: Heavy Fermion, Quantum Critical Phenomeno
Locally critical quantum phase transitions in strongly correlated metals
When a metal undergoes a continuous quantum phase transition, non-Fermi
liquid behaviour arises near the critical point. It is standard to assume that
all low-energy degrees of freedom induced by quantum criticality are spatially
extended, corresponding to long-wavelength fluctuations of the order parameter.
However, this picture has been contradicted by recent experiments on a
prototype system: heavy fermion metals at a zero-temperature magnetic
transition. In particular, neutron scattering from CeCuAu has
revealed anomalous dynamics at atomic length scales, leading to much debate as
to the fate of the local moments in the quantum-critical regime. Here we report
our theoretical finding of a locally critical quantum phase transition in a
model of heavy fermions. The dynamics at the critical point are in agreement
with experiment. We also argue that local criticality is a phenomenon of
general relevance to strongly correlated metals, including doped Mott
insulators.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures; extended version, to appear in Natur
Quantum Tricritical Points in NbFe
Quantum critical points (QCPs) emerge when a 2nd order phase transition is
suppressed to zero temperature. In metals the quantum fluctuations at such a
QCP can give rise to new phases including unconventional superconductivity.
Whereas antiferromagnetic QCPs have been studied in considerable detail
ferromagnetic (FM) QCPs are much harder to access. In almost all metals FM QCPs
are avoided through either a change to 1st order transitions or through an
intervening spin-density-wave (SDW) phase. Here, we study the prototype of the
second case, NbFe. We demonstrate that the phase diagram can be modelled
using a two-order-parameter theory in which the putative FM QCP is buried
within a SDW phase. We establish the presence of quantum tricritical points
(QTCPs) at which both the uniform and finite susceptibility diverge. The
universal nature of our model suggests that such QTCPs arise naturally from the
interplay between SDW and FM order and exist generally near a buried FM QCP of
this type. Our results promote NbFe as the first example of a QTCP, which
has been proposed as a key concept in a range of narrow-band metals, including
the prominent heavy-fermion compound YbRhSi.Comment: 21 pages including S
Quantum Criticality in Heavy Fermion Metals
Quantum criticality describes the collective fluctuations of matter
undergoing a second-order phase transition at zero temperature. Heavy fermion
metals have in recent years emerged as prototypical systems to study quantum
critical points. There have been considerable efforts, both experimental and
theoretical, which use these magnetic systems to address problems that are
central to the broad understanding of strongly correlated quantum matter. Here,
we summarize some of the basic issues, including i) the extent to which the
quantum criticality in heavy fermion metals goes beyond the standard theory of
order-parameter fluctuations, ii) the nature of the Kondo effect in the quantum
critical regime, iii) the non-Fermi liquid phenomena that accompany quantum
criticality, and iv) the interplay between quantum criticality and
unconventional superconductivity.Comment: (v2) 39 pages, 8 figures; shortened per the editorial mandate; to
appear in Nature Physics. (v1) 43 pages, 8 figures; Non-technical review
article, intended for general readers; the discussion part contains more
specialized topic
Quantum criticality in ferroelectrics
Materials tuned to the neighbourhood of a zero temperature phase transition
often show the emergence of novel quantum phenomena. Much of the effort to
study these new effects, like the breakdown of the conventional Fermi-liquid
theory of metals has been focused in narrow band electronic systems.
Ferroelectric crystals provide a very different type of quantum criticality
that arises purely from the crystalline lattice. In many cases the
ferroelectric phase can be tuned to absolute zero using hydrostatic pressure or
chemical or isotopic substitution. Close to such a zero temperature phase
transition, the dielectric constant and other quantities change into radically
unconventional forms due to the quantum fluctuations of the electrical
polarization. The simplest ferroelectrics may form a text-book paradigm of
quantum criticality in the solid-state as the difficulties found in metals due
to a high density of gapless excitations on the Fermi surface are avoided. We
present low temperature high precision data demonstrating these effects in pure
single crystals of SrTiO3 and KTaO3. We outline a model for describing the
physics of ferroelectrics close to quantum criticality and highlight the
expected 1/T2 dependence of the dielectric constant measured over a wide
temperature range at low temperatures. In the neighbourhood of the quantum
critical point we report the emergence of a small frequency independent peak in
the dielectric constant at approximately 2K in SrTiO3 and 3K in KTaO3 believed
to arise from coupling to acoustic phonons. Looking ahead, we suggest that in
ferroelectric materials supporting mobile charge carriers, quantum paraelectric
fluctuations may mediate new effective electron-electron interactions giving
rise to a number of possible states such as superconductivity.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Two-Particle-Self-Consistent Approach for the Hubbard Model
Even at weak to intermediate coupling, the Hubbard model poses a formidable
challenge. In two dimensions in particular, standard methods such as the Random
Phase Approximation are no longer valid since they predict a finite temperature
antiferromagnetic phase transition prohibited by the Mermin-Wagner theorem. The
Two-Particle-Self-Consistent (TPSC) approach satisfies that theorem as well as
particle conservation, the Pauli principle, the local moment and local charge
sum rules. The self-energy formula does not assume a Migdal theorem. There is
consistency between one- and two-particle quantities. Internal accuracy checks
allow one to test the limits of validity of TPSC. Here I present a pedagogical
review of TPSC along with a short summary of existing results and two case
studies: a) the opening of a pseudogap in two dimensions when the correlation
length is larger than the thermal de Broglie wavelength, and b) the conditions
for the appearance of d-wave superconductivity in the two-dimensional Hubbard
model.Comment: Chapter in "Theoretical methods for Strongly Correlated Systems",
Edited by A. Avella and F. Mancini, Springer Verlag, (2011) 55 pages.
Misprint in Eq.(23) corrected (thanks D. Bergeron
Quantum tricritical points in NbFe2
Quantum critical points (QCPs) emerge when a 2nd order phase transition is
suppressed to zero temperature. In metals the quantum fluctuations at such a
QCP can give rise to new phases including unconventional superconductivity.
Whereas antiferromagnetic QCPs have been studied in considerable detail
ferromagnetic (FM) QCPs are much harder to access. In almost all metals FM QCPs
are avoided through either a change to 1st order transitions or through an
intervening spin-density-wave (SDW) phase. Here, we study the prototype of the
second case, NbFe. We demonstrate that the phase diagram can be modelled
using a two-order-parameter theory in which the putative FM QCP is buried
within a SDW phase. We establish the presence of quantum tricritical points
(QTCPs) at which both the uniform and finite susceptibility diverge. The
universal nature of our model suggests that such QTCPs arise naturally from the
interplay between SDW and FM order and exist generally near a buried FM QCP of
this type. Our results promote NbFe as the first example of a QTCP, which
has been proposed as a key concept in a range of narrow-band metals, including
the prominent heavy-fermion compound YbRhSi
- …