89 research outputs found
Correlation between Fermi surface transformations and superconductivity in the electron-doped high- superconductor NdCeCuO
Two critical points have been revealed in the normal-state phase diagram of
the electron-doped cuprate superconductor NdCeCuO by exploring
the Fermi surface properties of high quality single crystals by high-field
magnetotransport. First, the quantitative analysis of the Shubnikov-de Haas
effect shows that the weak superlattice potential responsible for the Fermi
surface reconstruction in the overdoped regime extrapolates to zero at the
doping level corresponding to the onset of superconductivity.
Second, the high-field Hall coefficient exhibits a sharp drop right below
optimal doping where the superconducting transition
temperature is maximum. This drop is most likely caused by the onset of
long-range antiferromagnetic ordering. Thus, the superconducting dome appears
to be pinned by two critical points to the normal state phase diagram.Comment: 9 pages; 7 figures; 1 tabl
Protected superconductivity at the boundaries of charge-density-wave domains
Solid 4He may acquire superfluid characteristics due to the frustration of the solid phase at grain boundaries. Here, introducing a negative-U generalized Hubbard model and a coarse-grained semiclassical pseudospin model, we show that an analogous effect occurs in systems with competition among charge-density-waves (CDW) and superconductivity in the presence of disorder, as cuprate or dichalcogenide superconductors. The CDW breaks apart in domains with topologically protected filamentary superconductivity at the interfaces. Our transport measurements, carried out in underdoped La2-x Sr x CuO4, with the magnetic field acting as a control parameter, are shown to be in excellent agreement with our theoretical prediction. Assuming superconductivity and CDW phases have similar energies, at intermediate temperatures, the magnetic field drives the system from a fluctuating superconductor to a CDW as expected in the clean limit. Lowering the temperature, the expected clean quantum critical point is avoided and a filamentary phase appears, analogous to 'glassy' supersolid phenomena in 4He. The transition line ends at a second quantum critical point at high-fields. Within our scenario, the filamentary superconducting phase is parasitic with CDW and bulk superconducting phases playing the role of primary competing order parameters
Genome sequencing of the neotype strain CBS 554.65 reveals the MAT1–2 locus of Aspergillus niger
BackgroundAspergillus niger is a ubiquitous filamentous fungus widely employed as a cell factory thanks to its abilities to produce a wide range of organic acids and enzymes. Its genome was one of the first Aspergillus genomes to be sequenced in 2007, due to its economic importance and its role as model organism to study fungal fermentation. Nowadays, the genome sequences of more than 20 A. niger strains are available. These, however, do not include the neotype strain CBS 554.65.ResultsThe genome of CBS 554.65 was sequenced with PacBio. A high-quality nuclear genome sequence consisting of 17 contigs with a N50 value of 4.07 Mbp was obtained. The assembly covered all the 8 centromeric regions of the chromosomes. In addition, a complete circular mitochondrial DNA assembly was obtained. Bioinformatic analyses revealed the presence of a MAT1-2-1 gene in this genome, contrary to the most commonly used A. niger strains, such as ATCC 1015 and CBS 513.88, which contain a MAT1-1-1 gene. A nucleotide alignment showed a different orientation of the MAT1–1 locus of ATCC 1015 compared to the MAT1–2 locus of CBS 554.65, relative to conserved genes flanking the MAT locus. Within 24 newly sequenced isolates of A. niger half of them had a MAT1–1 locus and the other half a MAT1–2 locus. The genomic organization of the MAT1–2 locus in CBS 554.65 is similar to other Aspergillus species. In contrast, the region comprising the MAT1–1 locus is flipped in all sequenced strains of A. niger.ConclusionsThis study, besides providing a high-quality genome sequence of an important A. niger strain, suggests the occurrence of genetic flipping or switching events at the MAT1–1 locus of A. niger. These results provide new insights in the mating system of A. niger and could contribute to the investigation and potential discovery of sexuality in this species long thought to be asexual.Microbial Biotechnolog
Stripe order and quasiparticle Nernst effect in cuprate superconductors
After a brief review of current ideas on stripe order in cuprate
high-temperature superconductors, we discuss the quasiparticle Nernst effect in
the cuprates, with focus on its evolution in non-superconducting stripe and
related nematic states. In general, we find the Nernst signal to be strongly
enhanced by nearby van-Hove singularities and Lifshitz transitions in the band
structure, implying that phases with translation symmetry breaking often lead
to a large quasiparticle Nernst effect due to the presence of multiple small
Fermi pockets. Open orbits may contribute to the Nernst signal as well, but do
so in a strongly anisotropic fashion. We discuss our results in the light of
recent proposals for a specific Lifshitz transition in underdoped YBCO and make
predictions for the doping dependence of the Nernst signal.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figs, article prepared for a special issue of New J Phy
Evidence for antiferromagnetism coexisting with charge order in the trilayer cuprate HgBaCaCuO
Multilayered cuprates possess not only the highest superconducting
temperature transition but also offer a unique platform to study disorder-free
CuO planes and the interplay between competing orders with
superconductivity. Here, we study the underdoped trilayer cuprate
HgBaCaCuO and we report the first quantum oscillation
and Hall effect measurements in magnetic field up to 88 T. A careful analysis
of the complex spectra of quantum oscillations strongly supports the
coexistence of an antiferromagnetic order in the inner plane and a charge order
in the outer planes. The presence of an ordered antiferromagnetic metallic
state that extends deep in the superconducting phase is a key ingredient that
supports magnetically mediated pairing interaction in cuprates.Comment: 6+5 pages, 4+6 figure
Fermi Surface of the Electron-doped Cuprate Superconductor Nd_{2-x}Ce_xCuO_{4} Probed by High-Field Magnetotransport
We report on the study of the Fermi surface of the electron-doped cuprate
superconductor NdCeCuO by measuring the interlayer
magnetoresistance as a function of the strength and orientation of the applied
magnetic field. We performed experiments in both steady and pulsed magnetic
fields on high-quality single crystals with Ce concentrations of to
0.17. In the overdoped regime of we found both semiclassical
angle-dependent magnetoresistance oscillations (AMRO) and Shubnikov-de Haas
(SdH) oscillations. The combined AMRO and SdH data clearly show that the
appearance of fast SdH oscillations in strongly overdoped samples is caused by
magnetic breakdown. This observation provides clear evidence for a
reconstructed multiply-connected Fermi surface up to the very end of the
overdoped regime at . The strength of the superlattice potential
responsible for the reconstructed Fermi surface is found to decrease with
increasing doping level and likely vanishes at the same carrier concentration
as superconductivity, suggesting a close relation between translational
symmetry breaking and superconducting pairing. A detailed analysis of the
high-resolution SdH data allowed us to determine the effective cyclotron mass
and Dingle temperature, as well as to estimate the magnetic breakdown field in
the overdoped regime.Comment: 23 pages, 8 figure
Comments on the d-wave pairing mechanism for cuprate high superconductors: Higher is different?
The question of pairing glue for the cuprate superconductors (SC)is revisited
and its determination through the angle resolved photo-emission spectroscopy
(ARPES) is discussed in detail. There are two schools of thoughts about the
pairing glue question: One argues that superconductivity in the cuprates
emerges out of doping the spin singlet resonating valence bond (RVB) state.
Since singlet pairs are already formed in the RVB state there is no need for
additional boson glue to pair the electrons. The other instead suggests that
the d-wave pairs are mediated by the collective bosons like the conventional
low SC with the alteration that the phonons are replaced by another kind
of bosons ranging from the antiferromagnetic (AF) to loop current fluctuations.
An approach to resolve this dispute is to determine the frequency and momentum
dependences of the diagonal and off-diagonal self-energies directly from
experiments like the McMillan-Rowell procedure for the conventional SC. In that
a simple d-wave BCS theory describes superconducting properties of the cuprates
well, the Eliashberg analysis of well designed high resolution experimental
data will yield the crucial frequency and momentum dependences of the
self-energies. This line of approach using ARPES are discussed in more detail
in this review, and some remaining problems are commented.Comment: Invited review article published in the Journal of Korean Physical
Society; several typos corrected and a few comments and references adde
Hour-glass magnetic spectrum in an insulating, hole-doped antiferromagnet
Superconductivity in layered copper-oxide compounds emerges when charge
carriers are added to antiferromagnetically-ordered CuO2 layers. The carriers
destroy the antiferromagnetic order, but strong spin fluctuations persist
throughout the superconducting phase and are intimately linked to
super-conductivity. Neutron scattering measurements of spin fluctuations in
hole-doped copper oxides have revealed an unusual `hour-glass' feature in the
momentum-resolved magnetic spectrum, present in a wide range of superconducting
and non-superconducting materials. There is no widely-accepted explanation for
this feature. One possibility is that it derives from a pattern of alternating
spin and charge stripes, an idea supported by measurements on stripe-ordered
La1.875Ba0.125CuO4. However, many copper oxides without stripe order also
exhibit an hour-glass spectrum$. Here we report the observation of an
hour-glass magnetic spectrum in a hole-doped antiferromagnet from outside the
family of superconducting copper oxides. Our system has stripe correlations and
is an insulator, which means its magnetic dynamics can conclusively be ascribed
to stripes. The results provide compelling evidence that the hour-glass
spectrum in the copper-oxide superconductors arises from fluctuating stripes.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Natur
Synchrotron x ray scattering study of charge density wave order in HgBa2CuO4 delta
We present a detailed synchrotron x-ray scattering study of the
charge-density-wave (CDW) order in simple tetragonal HgBaCuO
(Hg1201). Resonant soft x-ray scattering measurements reveal that short-range
order appears at a temperature that is distinctly lower than the pseudogap
temperature and in excellent agreement with a prior transient reflectivity
result. Despite considerable structural differences between Hg1201 and
YBaCuO, the CDW correlations exhibit similar doping
dependencies, and we demonstrate a universal relationship between the CDW wave
vector and the size of the reconstructed Fermi pocket observed in quantum
oscillation experiments. The CDW correlations in Hg1201 vanish already below
optimal doping, once the correlation length is comparable to the CDW modulation
period, and they appear to be limited by the disorder potential from unit cells
hosting two interstitial oxygen atoms. A complementary hard x-ray diffraction
measurement, performed on an underdoped Hg1201 sample in magnetic fields along
the crystallographic axis of up to 16 T, provides information about the
form factor of the CDW order. As expected from the single-CuO-layer
structure of Hg1201, the CDW correlations vanish at half-integer values of
and appear to be peaked at integer . We conclude that the atomic
displacements associated with the short-range CDW order are mainly planar,
within the CuO layers
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