Resistivity phase diagram of cuprates revisited

Scientific paper - Original scientific paper

• Author: D. Pelc
• Author: M. J. Veit
• Author: C. J. Dorow
• Author: Y. Ge
• Author: N. Barišić
• Author: M. Greven
• Author's institution: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Science; (Department of Physics)
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: NATURAL SCIENCES; Physics

Abstract (english)

The phase diagram of the cuprate superconductors has posed a formidable scientific challenge for more than three decades. This challenge is perhaps best exemplified by the need to understand the normal-state charge
transport as the system evolves from Mott insulator to Fermi-liquid metal with doping. Here we report a
detailed analysis of the temperature (T ) and doping (p) dependence of the planar resistivity of simple-tetragonal
HgBa2CuO4+δ (Hg1201), the single-CuO2-layer cuprate with the highest optimal superconducting transition
temperature, Tc. The data allow us to test a recently proposed phenomenological model for the cuprate phase
diagram that combines a universal transport scattering rate with spatially inhomogeneous (de)localization of the
Mott-localized hole. We find that the model provides a good description of the data. We then extend this analysis
to prior transport results for several other cuprates, including the Hall number in the overdoped part of the phase
diagram, and find little compound-to-compound variation in the (de)localization gap scale. The results point to a
robust, universal structural origin of the inherent gap inhomogeneity that is unrelated to doping-related disorder.
They are inconsistent with the notion that much of the phase diagram is controlled by a quantum-critical point,
and instead indicate that the unusual electronic properties exhibited by the cuprates are fundamentally related to
strong nonlinearities associated with subtle nanoscale inhomogeneity.

• Language: english
• Publication type: Scientific paper - Original scientific paper
• Publication status: Published
• Peer review: Peer review - international
• Publication version: Published version
• Journal title: Physical Review B
• Numbering: vol. 102, no. 7, 075114
• p-ISSN: 2469-9950
• e-ISSN: 2469-9969
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.102.075114
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:217:794160
• Publication: 2020
• Document URL: https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.102.075114
• Type of resource: Text
• Access conditions: Open access
• Public note: © 2020 American Physical Society. Received 21 November 2019; revised 23 May 2020; accepted 27 July 2020; published 11 August 2020.
• Created on: 2020-09-19 18:58:19