Failure of t-J models in describing doping evolution of spectral weight in x-ray scattering, optical and photoemission spectra of the cuprates

We have analyzed experimental evidence for an anomalous transfer of spectral weight from high to low energy scales in both electron and hole doped cuprates as a function of doping. X-ray scattering, optical and photoemission spectra are all found to show that the high energy spectral weight decreases with increasing doping at a rate much faster than predictions of the large $U-$limit calculations. The observed doping evolution is however well-described by an intermediate coupling scenario where the effective Hubbard $U$ is comparable to the bandwidth. The experimental spectra across various spectroscopies are inconsistent with fixed-$U$ exact diagonalization or quantum Monte Carlo calculations, and suggest a significant doping dependence of the effective $U$ in the cuprates.Comment: Accepted for Phys. Rev. B (2010). 7 pages, 4 figure

Influence of the Third Dimension of Quasi-Two-Dimensional Cuprate Superconductors on Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectra

Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) presents significant simplications in analyzing strictly two-dimensional (2D) materials, but even the most anisotropic physical systems display some residual three-dimensionality. Here we demonstrate how this third dimension manifests itself in ARPES spectra of quasi-2D materials by considering the example of the cuprate Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8}$ (Bi2212). The intercell, interlayer hopping, which is responsible for $k_z$-dispersion of the bands, is found to induce an irreducible broadening to the ARPES lineshapes with a characteristic dependence on the in-plane momentum $k_\parallel$. Our study suggests that ARPES lineshapes can provide a direct spectroscopic window for establishing the existence of coherent c-axis conductivity in a material via the detection of this new broadening mechanism, and bears on the understanding of 2D to 3D crossover and pseudogap and stripe physics in novel materials through ARPES experiments.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Induced superconductivity in noncuprate layers of the Bi2_2Sr2_2CaCu2_2O8+δ_{8+\delta} high-temperature superconductor: Modeling of scanning tunneling spectra

We analyze how the coherence peaks observed in Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy (STS) of cuprate high temperature superconductors are transferred from the cuprate layer to the oxide layers adjacent to the STS microscope tip. For this purpose, we have carried out a realistic multiband calculation for the superconducting state of Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+\delta}$ (Bi2212) assuming a short range d-wave pairing interaction confined to the nearest-neighbor Cu $d_{x^2-y^2}$ orbitals. The resulting anomalous matrix elements of the Green's function allow us to monitor how pairing is then induced not only within the cuprate bilayer but also within and across other layers and sites. The symmetry properties of the various anomalous matrix elements and the related selection rules are delineated.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Nonmonotonic dx2−y2d_{x^2-y^2} superconducting gap in electron-doped Pr0.89_{0.89}LaCe0.11_{0.11}CuO4_4: Evidence of coexisting antiferromagnetism and superconductivity?

Recent experiments on Pr$_{0.89}$LaCe$_{0.11}$CuO$_4$ observe an anisotropic spin-correlation gap and a nonmonotonic superconducting (SC) gap, which we analyze within the framework of a $t-t^{\prime}-t^{\prime\prime}-t^{\prime\prime\prime}-t^{iv}-U$ model with a $d_{x^2-y^2}$ pairing interaction including a third harmonic contribution. By introducing a realistic broadening of the quasiparticle spectrum to reflect small-angle scattering, our computations explain the experimental observations, especially the presence of a maximum in the leading edge gap in the vicinity of the hot-spots. Our analysis suggests that the material behaves like a {\it two-band} superconductor with the d-wave third harmonic acting as the {\it interband pairing gap}, and that the anti-ferromagnetic (AFM) and SC orders co-exist in a uniform phase

Reconstructing the bulk Fermi surface and the superconducting gap properties from Neutron Scattering experiments

We develop an analytical tool to extract bulk electronic properties of unconventional superconductors through inelastic neutron scattering (INS) spectra. Since the spin excitation spectrum in the superconducting (SC) state originates from Bogoliubov quasiparticle scattering associated with Fermi surface nesting, its energy-momentum relation--the so called `hour-glass' feature--can be inverted to reveal the Fermi momentum dispersion of the single-particle spectrum as well as the corresponding SC gap function. The inversion procedure is analogous to the quasiparticle interference (QPI) effect in scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Whereas angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and STM provide surface sensitive information, our inversion procedure provides bulk electronic properties. The technique is essentially model independent and can be applied to a wide variety of materials.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure