APS March Meeting 2010
Volume 55, Number 2
Monday–Friday, March 15–19, 2010;
Portland, Oregon
Session Y1: Extended Quantum Criticality - The Link Between Heavy Fermions and Cuprate Superconductors?
8:00 AM–11:00 AM,
Friday, March 19, 2010
Room: Oregon Ballroom 201
Sponsoring
Unit:
DCMP
Chair: Piers Coleman, Rutgers University
Abstract ID: BAPS.2010.MAR.Y1.3
Abstract: Y1.00003 : Separation of charge-order and magnetic QCPs in heavy fermions and high $T_{\rm c}$ cuprates
9:12 AM–9:48 AM
Preview Abstract
Abstract
Author:
Neil Harrison
(Los Alamos National Laboratory)
The Fermi surface topology of high temperature superconductors
inferred
from magnetic quantum oscillation measurements provides clues for the
origin of unconventional pairing thus previously not accessed by
other
spectroscopy techniques. While the overdoped regime of the high
$T_{\rm
c}$ phase diagram has a large Fermi surface consistent with
bandstructure
calculations, the underdoped regime of YBa$_2$Cu$_2$O$_{6+x}$ is
found to
be composed of small pockets. There is considerable debate as to
whether
the small observed ``pocket'' is hole-like or electron-like$-$
whether the
Fermi surface is best described by a $t$-$J$ model or a
conventional band
folding picture$-$ whether or not a Fermi liquid description
applies$-$
or$-$ whether bilayer coupling splits the degeneracy of the observed
pockets. We (myself and collaborators) have now collected an
extensive
body of experimental data that brings this debate to rest, but
raises new
questions about the nature of itinerant magnetism in underdoped high
$T_{\rm c}$ cuprates. Quantum oscillation measurements are
performed on
multiple samples in magnetic fields extending to 85~T, temperatures
between 30~mK (dilution fridge in dc fields to 45~T) and 18~K, over a
range of hole dopings and with samples rotated in-situ about
multiple axes
with respect to the magnetic field. We perform a topographical
map of the
Fermi surface, enabling the in-plane shape of one of the pockets
to be
determined$-$ imposing stringent constraints on the origin of the
Fermi
surface.
While quantum oscillations measurements are consistent with a
topological
Fermi surface change associated with magnetism near optimal
doping, they
also point to a secondary instability deep within the underdoped
regime
beneath a high $T_{\rm c}$ superconducting sub-dome. An steep
upturn in
the quasiparticle effective mass is observed on underdoping,
suggestive of
a quantum critical point near $x=$~0.46 separating the metallic
regime
(composed of small pockets) from a more underdoped insulating
charge-ordered regime (earlier reported in neutron scattering
measurements). Our findings suggest the importance of two critical
instabilities affecting the Fermi surface beneath the high
$T_{\rm c}$
superconducting dome(s). While one of these has been proposed to
provide
the likely origin of unconventional pairing in the cuprates, the
other can
be an important factor in boosting transition temperatures.
\\[4pt]
This work is supported by the DoE BES grant ``Science in 100~T''. The
author would like to thank collaborators S.~E.~Sebastian,
C.~H.~Mielke,
P.~A.~Goddard, M.~M.~Altarawneh, R.~Liang, D.~A.~Bonn,
W.~N.~Hardy and
G.~G.~Lonzarich, and supporting staff at the National High
Magnetic Field
Laboratory (NHMFL). Quantum oscillation experiments are performed
at the
NHMFL, which is funded by the NSF with support from the DoE and
State of
Florida.
To cite this abstract, use the following reference: http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2010.MAR.Y1.3