48 research outputs found
Phase diagrams of a classical two-dimensional Heisenberg antiferromagnet with single-ion anisotropy
A classical variant of the two-dimensional anisotropic Heisenberg model
reproducing inelastic neutron scattering experiments on La_5 Ca_9 Cu_24 O_41
[M. Matsuda et al., Phys.Rev. B 68, 060406(R) (2003)] is analysed using mostly
Monte Carlo techniques. Phase diagrams with external fields parallel and
perpendicular to the easy axis of the anisotropic interactions are determined,
including antiferromagnetic and spin-flop phases. Mobile spinless defects, or
holes, are found to form stripes which bunch, debunch and break up at a phase
transition. A parallel field can lead to a spin-flop phase.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures; final version as accepted by Phys. Rev. B (Fig. 5
replaced, added remarks in Secs. I, III, and V
Systematic X-ray absorption study of hole doping in BSCCO - phases
X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) on the O 1s threshold was applied to
Bi-based, single crystalline high temperature superconductors (HTc's), whose
hole densities in the CuO2 planes was varied by different methods. XAS gives
the intensity of the so-called pre-peak of the O 1s line due to the unoccupied
part of the Zhang-Rice (ZR) singlet state. The effects of variation of the
number n of CuO2 - planes per unit cell (n = 1,2,3) and the effect of
La-substitution for Sr for the n = 1 and n = 2 phase were studied
systematically. Furthermore the symmetry of the states could be probed by the
polarization of the impinging radiation.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the proceedings of SCES2001, Ann
Arbor, August 6-10, 200
Theory of the density fluctuation spectrum of strongly correlated electrons
The density response function of the two-dimensional
model is studied starting from a mixed gauge formulation of the slave boson
approach. Our results for are in remarkable agreement with exact
diagonalization studies, and provide a natural explanation of the anomalous
features in the density response in terms of the spin polaron nature of the
charge carriers. In particular we have identified unexplained low energy
structures in the diagonalization data as arising from the coherent polaron
motion of holes in a spin liquid.Comment: 4 pages with 4 figures, to be published in Physical Review B (RC
Tight-binding modelling of the electronic band structure of layered superconducting perovskites
A detailed tight-binding analysis of the electron band structure of the CuO_2
plane of layered cuprates is performed within a sigma-band Hamiltonian
including four orbitals - Cu3d_x^2-y^2, Cu4s, O2p_x, and O2p_y. Both the
experimental and theoretical hints in favor of Fermi level located in a Cu or O
band, respectively, are considered. For these two alternatives analytical
expressions are obtained for the LCAO electron wave functions suitable for the
treatment of electron superexchange. Simple formulae for the Fermi surface and
electron dispersions are derived by applying the Loewdin down-fold procedure to
set up the effective copper and oxygen Hamiltonians. They are used to fit the
experimental ARUPS Fermi surface of Pb_0.42Bi_1.73Sr_1.94Ca_1.3Cu_1.92O_8+x and
both the ARPES and LDA Fermi surface of Nd_2-xCe_xCuO_4-delta. The value of
presenting the hopping amplitudes as surface integrals of ab initio atomic wave
functions is demonstrated as well. The same approach is applied to the RuO_2
plane of the ruthenate Sr_2RuO_4. The LCAO Hamiltonians including the three
in-plane pi-orbitals Ru4d_xy, O_a 2p_y, O_b 2p_x and the four transversal
pi-orbitals Ru4d_zx, Ru4d_yz, O_a 2p_z, O_b 2p_z, are separately considered. It
is shown that the equation for the constant energy curves and the Fermi
contours has the same canonical form as the one for the layered cuprates.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures, published in J. Phys.: Condens. Matter
(complete and corrected References section
The Antiferromagnetic Band Structure of La2CuO4 Revisited
Using the Becke-3-LYP functional, we have performed band structure
calculations on the high temperature superconductor parent compound, La2CuO4.
Under the restricted spin formalism (rho(alpha) equal to rho(beta)), the
R-B3LYP band structure agrees well with the standard LDA band structure. It is
metallic with a single Cu x2-y2/O p(sigma) band crossing the Fermi level. Under
the unrestricted spin formalism (rho(alpha) not equal to rho(beta)), the UB3LYP
band structure has a spin polarized antiferromagnetic solution with a band gap
of 2.0 eV, agreeing well with experiment. This state is 1.0 eV (per formula
unit) lower than that calculated from the R-B3LYP. The apparent high energy of
the spin restricted state is attributed to an overestimate of on-site Coulomb
repulsion which is corrected in the unrestricted spin calculations. The
stabilization of the total energy with spin polarization arises primarily from
the stabilization of the x2-y2 band, such that the character of the eigenstates
at the top of the valence band in the antiferromagnetic state becomes a strong
mixture of Cu x2-y2/O p(sigma) and Cu z2/O' p(z). Since the Hohenberg-Kohn
theorem requires the spin restricted and spin unrestricted calculations give
exactly the same ground state energy and total density for the exact
functionals, this large disparity in energy reflects the inadequacy of current
functionals for describing the cuprates. This calls into question the use of
band structures based on current restricted spin density functionals (including
LDA) as a basis for single band theories of superconductivity in these
materials.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. B, for more information
see http://www.firstprinciples.co
Magnon Heat Transport in (Sr,La)_14Cu_24O_41
We have measured the thermal heat conductivity kappa of the compounds
Sr_14Cu_24O_41 and Ca_9La_5Cu_24O_41 containing doped and undoped spin ladders,
respectively. We find a huge anisotropy of both, the size and the temperature
dependence of kappa which we interpret in terms of a very large heat
conductivity due to the magnetic excitations of the one-dimensional spin
ladders. This magnon heat conductivity decreases with increasing hole doping of
the ladders. The magnon heat transport is analyzed theoretically using a simple
kinetic model. From this analysis we determine the spin gap and the temperature
dependent mean free path of the magnons which ranges by several thousand
angstroms at low temperature. The relevance of several scattering channels for
the magnon transport is discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Observation of two-magnon bound states in the two-leg ladders of (Ca,La)14Cu24O41
Phonon-assisted 2-magnon absorption is studied at T=4 K in the spin-1/2
two-leg ladders of Ca_14-x La_x Cu_24 O_41 (x=5 and 4) for polarization of the
electrical field parallel to the legs and the rungs, respectively. Two peaks at
about 2140 and 2800 1/cm reflect van-Hove singularities in the density of
states of the strongly dispersing 2-magnon singlet bound state, and a broad
peak at about 4000 1/cm is identified with the 2-magnon continuum. Two
different theoretical approaches (Jordan-Wigner fermions and perturbation
theory) describe the data very well for J_parallel = 1050 - 1100 1/cm and
J_parallel / J_perp = 1 - 1.1. A striking similarity of the high-energy
continuum absorption of the ladders and of the undoped high T_c cuprates is
observed.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Revte
Progress in Neutron Scattering Studies of Spin Excitations in High-Tc Cuprates
Neutron scattering experiments continue to improve our knowledge of spin
fluctuations in layered cuprates, excitations that are symptomatic of the
electronic correlations underlying high-temperature superconductivity.
Time-of-flight spectrometers, together with new and varied single crystal
samples, have provided a more complete characterization of the magnetic energy
spectrum and its variation with carrier concentration. While the spin
excitations appear anomalous in comparison with simple model systems, there is
clear consistency among a variety of cuprate families. Focusing initially on
hole-doped systems, we review the nature of the magnetic spectrum, and
variations in magnetic spectral weight with doping. We consider connections
with the phenomena of charge and spin stripe order, and the potential
generality of such correlations as suggested by studies of magnetic-field and
impurity induced order. We contrast the behavior of the hole-doped systems with
the trends found in the electron-doped superconductors. Returning to hole-doped
cuprates, studies of translation-symmetry-preserving magnetic order are
discussed, along with efforts to explore new systems. We conclude with a
discussion of future challenges.Comment: revised version, to be published in JPSJ, 20 pages, 21 figure