Nernst effect and diamagnetic response in a stripe model of superconducting cuprates

We examine the possibility that the experimentally observed enhancement of superconducting (SC) fluctuations above the SC transition temperature in the underdoped cuprates is caused by stripes -- an intrinsic electronic inhomogeneity, common to hole-doped cuprates. By evaluating the strengths of the diamagnetic response and the Nernst effect within the striped SC model, we find results that are qualitatively consistent with the experimental observations. We make a prediction for anisotropic thermopower in detwinned samples that can be used to further test the proposed scenario.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures; final version published in Europhysics Letter

The Critical Hopping Parameter in O(a) improved Lattice QCD

We calculate the critical value of the hopping parameter, $\kappa_c$, in O(a) improved Lattice QCD, to two loops in perturbation theory. We employ the Sheikholeslami-Wohlert (clover) improved action for Wilson fermions. The quantity which we study is a typical case of a vacuum expectation value resulting in an additive renormalization; as such, it is characterized by a power (linear) divergence in the lattice spacing, and its calculation lies at the limits of applicability of perturbation theory. The dependence of our results on the number of colors $N$, the number of fermionic flavors $N_f$, and the clover parameter $c_{SW}$, is shown explicitly. We compare our results to non perturbative evaluations of $\kappa_c$ coming from Monte Carlo simulations.Comment: 11 pages, 2 EPS figures. The only change with respect to the original version is inclusion of the standard formulae for the gauge fixing and ghost parts of the action. Accepted for publication in Physical Review

Low Temperature Superfluid Response of High-Tc Superconductors

We have reviewed our theoretical and experimental results of the low temperature superfluid response function of high temperature superconductors (HTSC). In clean high-Tc materials the in-plane superfluid density rho_s^{ab} varies linearly with temperature. The slope of this linear T term is found to scale approximately with 1/Tc which, according to the weak coupling BCS theory for a d-wave superconductor, implies that the gap amplitude scales approximately with Tc. A T^5 behavior of the out-of-plane superfluid density rho_s^c for clean tetragonal HTSC was predicted and observed experimentally in the single layer Hg-compound HgBa_2CuO_{4+delta}. In other tetragonal high-Tc compounds with relatively high anisotropy, such as Hg_2Ba_2Ca_2Cu_3O_{8+delta}, rho_s^c varies as T^2 due to disorder effects. In optimally doped YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-delta}, rho_s^c varies linearly with temperature at low temperatures, but in underdoped YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-delta}, rho_s^c varies as T^2 at low temperatures; these results are consistent with our theoretical calculations.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figure

Effects of doping on thermally excited quasiparticles in the high-TcT_c superconducting state

The physical properties of low energy superconducting quasiparticles in high- $T_c$ superconductors are examined using magnetic penetration depth and specific heat experimental data. We find that the low energy density of states of quasiparticles of La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ scales with $(x-x_c)/T_c$ to the leading order approximation, where $x_c$ is the critical doping concentration below which $T_c=0$. The linear temperature term of the superfluid density is renormalized by quasiparticle interactions and the renormalization factor times the Fermi velocity is found to be doping independent.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, minor change to the content, fig1 is reploted, to appear in Phys Rev

Relaxor characteristics at the interfaces of [NdMnO3/SrMnO3/LaMnO3] superlattices

We have investigated the magnetic properties of transition metal oxide superlattices with broken inversion symmetry composed of three different antiferromagnetic insulators, [NdMnO3/SrMnO3/LaMnO3]. In the superlattices studied here, we identify the emergence of a relaxor, glassy-like behavior below spin glass temperature, T=36K. Our results offer the possibility to study and utilize magnetically metastable devices confined in nano-scale interfaces

Systematic behaviour of the in-plane penetration depth in d-wave cuprates

We report the temperature T and oxygen concentration dependences of the penetration depth of grain-aligned YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-\delta} with \delta= 0.0, 0.3 and 0.43. The values of the in-plane \lambda_{ab}(0) and out-of-plane \lambda_{c}(0) penetration depths, the low temperature linear term in \lambda_{ab}(T), and the ratio \lambda_{c}(0) /\lambda_{ab}(T) were found to increase with increasing $\delta$. The systematic changes of the linear term in \lambda_{ab}(T) with T_c found here and in recent work on HgBa_2Ca_{n-1} Cu_nO_{2n+2+\delta} (n = 1 and 3) are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Hysteresis and Noise in Stripe and Clump Forming Systems

We use simulations to examine hysteresis and noise in a model system that produces heterogeneous orderings including stripe and clump phases. In the presence of a disordered substrate, these heterogeneous phases exhibit 1/f$^\alpha$ noise and hysteresis in transport. The noise fluctuations are maximal in the heterogeneous phases, while in the uniform phases the hysteresis vanishes and both $\alpha$ and the noise power decrease. We compare our results to recent experiments exhibiting noise and hysteresis in high-temperature superconductors where charge heterogeneities may occur.Comment: 4 pages, 5 postscript figure