Unusual behavior of cuprates explained by heterogeneous charge localization

Scientific paper - Original scientific paper

• Author: Damjan Pelc
• Author: Petar Popčević
• Author: Miroslav Požek
• Author: M. Greven
• Author: Neven Barišić
• Author's institution: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Science; (Department of Physics)
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: NATURAL SCIENCES; Physics

Abstract (english)

The discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in cuprates ranks among the major scientific milestones of the past half century, yet pivotal questions regarding the complex phase diagram of these materials remain unanswered. Generally thought of as doped charge-transfer insulators, these complex oxides exhibit pseudogap, strange-metal, superconducting, and Fermi liquid behavior with increasing hole-dopant concentration. Motivated by recent experimental observations, here we introduce a phenomenological model wherein exactly one hole per planar copper-oxygen unit is delocalized with increasing doping and temperature. The model is percolative in nature, with parameters that are highly consistent with experiments. It comprehensively captures key unconventional experimental results, including the temperature and the doping dependence of the pseudogap phenomenon, the strange-metal linear temperature dependence of the planar resistivity, and the doping dependence of the superfluid density. The success and simplicity of the model greatly demystify the cuprate phase diagram and point to a local superconducting pairing mechanism.

• Keywords (english): cuprate superconductors; phase diagram; charge localization
• Language: english
• Publication type: Scientific paper - Original scientific paper
• Publication status: Published
• Peer review: Peer review - international
• Publication version: Published version
• Journal title: Science Advances
• Numbering: vol. 5, no. 1, eaau4538
• p-ISSN: 2375-2548
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aau4538
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:217:945625
• Publication: 2019
• Project: Number: IP-2016-06-7258; Title (croatian): Fizika mnogočestičnih sustava - iskorištavanje svijeta kompleksnosti; Acronym: COMPLEX_ORBIS; Leader: Osor Slaven Barišić; Jurisdiction: Croatia; Funding stream: IP
• Project: Number: IP-2018-01-2970; Title (croatian): Mikroskopska istraživanja induciranih faza u jako koreliranim elektronskim sustavima; Acronym: MicroS; Leader: Miroslav Požek; Jurisdiction: Croatia; Funding stream: IP
• Document URL: https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/1/eaau4538
• Type of resource: Text
• Access conditions: Open access
• Public note: © 2019 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC). Šifre projekata: ERC Consolidator Grant no. 725521, IP-2016-06-7258, IP-2018-01-2970.
• Created on: 2020-03-01 19:16:17