On the "spin-freezing" mechanism in underdoped superconducting cuprates

The letter deals with the spin-freezing process observed by means of NMR-NQR relaxation or by muon spin rotation in underdoped cuprate superconductors. This phenomenon, sometimes referred as coexistence of antiferromagnetic and superconducting order parameters, is generally thought to result from randomly distributed magnetic moments related to charge inhomogeneities (possibly stripes) which exhibit slowing down of their fluctuations on cooling below T$_c$ . Instead, we describe the experimental findings as due to fluctuating, vortex-antivortex, orbital currents state coexisting with d-wave superconducting state. A direct explanation of the experimental results, in underdoped Y$_{1-x}$Ca$_x$Ba$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6.1}$ and La$_{2-x}$Sr$$CuO$_4$, is thus given in terms of freezing of orbital current fluctuations

Temperature Dependence of the Cu(2) NQR Line Width in YBa2_2Cu3_3O7−y_{7-y}

Systematic measurements of the $^{63}$Cu(2) NQR line width were performed in underdoped YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-y}$ samples over the temperature range 4.2 K $<T<300$ K. It was shown that the copper NQR line width monotonically increases upon lowering temperature in the below-critical region, resembling temperature behavior of the superconducting gap. The observed dependence is explained by the fact that the energy of a condensate of sliding charge-current states of the charge-density-wave type depends on the phase of order parameter. Calculations show that this dependence appears only at $T<T_c$. Quantitative estimates of the line broadening at $T<T_c$ agree with the measurement results.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Polaron Effects on Superexchange Interaction: Isotope Shifts of TNT_N, TCT_C, and T∗T^* in Layered Copper Oxides

A compact expression has been obtained for the superexchange coupling of magnetic ions via intermediate anions with regard to polaron effects at both magnetic ions and intermediate anions. This expression is used to analyze the main features of the behavior of isotope shifts for temperatures of three types in layered cuprates: the Neel temperatures ($T_N$), critical temperatures of transitions to a superconducting state ($T_C$), and characteristic temperatures of the pseudogap in the normal state ($T^*$).Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Possible isotope effect on the resonance peak formation in high-Tc_c cuprates

Starting from the three-band $p-d$ Hubbard Hamiltonian we derive an effective $t-J$ model including electron-phonon interaction of quasiparticles with optical phonons. Within the effective Hamiltonian we analyze the influence of electronic correlations and electron-phonon interaction on the dynamical spin susceptibility in layered cuprates. We find a huge isotope effect on the resonance peak in the magnetic spin susceptibility, ${Im}\chi({\bf q},\omega)$, seen by inelastic neutron scattering. It results from both the electron-phonon coupling and the electronic correlation effects taken into account beyond random phase approximation(RPA) scheme. We find at optimal doping the isotope coeffiecient $\alpha_{res} \approx 0.35$ which can be further tested experimentally.Comment: revised version, new figure is added. Phys. Rev. B 69, 0945XX (2004); in pres

Network patterns and strength of orbital currents in layered cuprates

In a frame of the $t-J-G$ model we derive the microscopical expression for the circulating orbital currents in layered cuprates using the anomalous correlation functions. In agreement with $\mu$-on spin relaxation ($\mu$SR), nuclear quadrupolar resonance (NQR) and inelastic neutron scattering(INS) experiments in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6+x}$ we successfully explain the order of magnitude and the monotonous increase of the {\it internal} magnetic fields resulting from these currents upon cooling. However, the jump in the intensity of the magnetic fields at T$_c$ reported recently seems to indicate a non-mean-field feature in the coexistence of current and superconducting states and the deviation of the extended charge density wave vector instability from its commensurate value {\bf Q}$\approx(\pi,\pi$) in accordance with the reported topology of the Fermi surface