Mesoscopic oscillations of the conductance of disordered metallic samples as a function of temperature

We show theoretically and experimentally that the conductance of small disordered samples exhibits random oscillations as a function of temperature. The amplitude of the oscillations decays as a power law of temperature, and their characteristic period is of the order of the temperature itself

Origin of Orthorhombic Transition, Magnetic Transition, and Shear Modulus Softening in Iron Pnictide Superconductors: Analysis based on the Orbital Fluctuation Theory

The main features in iron-pnictide superconductors are summarized as (i) the orthorhombic transition accompanied by remarkable softening of shear modulus, (ii) high-Tc superconductivity close to the orthorhombic phase, and (iii) stripe-type magnetic order induced by orthorhombicity. To present a unified explanation for them, we analyze the multiorbital Hubbard-Holstein model with Fe-ion optical phonons based on the orbital fluctuation theory. In the random-phase-approximation (RPA), a small electron-phonon coupling constant ($\lambda ~ 0.2$) is enough to produce large orbital (=charge quadrupole) fluctuations. The most divergent susceptibility is the $O_{xz}$-antiferro-quadrupole (AFQ) susceptibility, which causes the s-wave superconductivity without sign reversal (s_{++}-wave state). At the same time, divergent development of $O_{x2-y2}$-ferro-quadrupole (FQ) susceptibility is brought by the "two-orbiton process" with respect to the AFQ fluctuations, which is absent in the RPA. The derived FQ fluctuations cause the softening of $C_{66}$ shear modulus, and its long-range-order not only triggers the orthorhombic structure transition, but also induces the instability of stripe-type antiferro-magnetic state. In other words, the condensation of composite bosons made of two orbitons gives rise to the FQ order and structure transition. The theoretically predicted multi-orbital-criticality presents a unified explanation for abovementioned features of iron pnictide superconductors.Comment: 19 pages, 15 figure

Negative Magnetoresistance of Granular Metals in a Strong Magnetic Field

The magnetoresistance of a granular superconductor in a strong magnetic field destroying the gap in each grain is considered. It is assumed that the tunneling between grains is sufficiently large such that all conventional effects of localization can be neglected. A non-trivial sensitivity to the magnetic field comes from superconducting fluctuations leading to the formation of virtual Cooper pairs and reducing the density of states. At low temperature, the pairs do not contribute to the macroscopic transport but their existence can drastically reduce the conductivity. Growing the magnetic field one destroys the fluctuations, which improves the metallic properties and leads to the negative magnetoresistance.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, RevTe

Anomalous Transport Phenomena in Fermi Liquids with Strong Magnetic Fluctuations

In many strongly correlated electron systems, remarkable violation of the relaxation time approximation (RTA) is observed. The most famous example would be high-Tc superconductors (HTSCs), and similar anomalous transport phenomena have been observed in metals near their antiferromagnetic (AF) quantum critical point (QCP). Here, we develop a transport theory involving resistivity and Hall coefficient on the basis of the microscopic Fermi liquid theory, by considering the current vertex correction (CVC). In nearly AF Fermi liquids, the CVC accounts for the significant enhancements in the Hall coefficient, magnetoresistance, thermoelectric power, and Nernst coefficient in nearly AF metals. According to the numerical study, aspects of anomalous transport phenomena in HTSC are explained in a unified way by considering the CVC, without introducing any fitting parameters; this strongly supports the idea that HTSCs are Fermi liquids with strong AF fluctuations. In addition, the striking \omega-dependence of the AC Hall coefficient and the remarkable effects of impurities on the transport coefficients in HTSCs appear to fit naturally into the present theory. The present theory also explains very similar anomalous transport phenomena occurring in CeCoIn5 and CeRhIn5, which is a heavy-fermion system near the AF QCP, and in the organic superconductor \kappa-(BEDT-TTF).Comment: 100 pages, Rep. Prog. Phys. 71, 026501 (2008