Universal Properties of Cuprate Superconductors: Tc Phase Diagram, Room-Temperature Thermopower, Neutron Spin Resonance, and STM Incommensurability Explained in Terms of Chiral Plaquette Pairing

Abstract

We report that four properties of cuprates and their evolution with doping are consequences of simply counting four-site plaquettes arising from doping: (1) the universal Tc phase diagram (superconductivity between \approx0.05 and \approx0.27 doping per CuO2 plane, and optimal Tc at \approx0.16), (2) the universal doping dependence of the room-temperature thermopower, (3) the superconducting neutron spin resonance peak (the "41 meV peak"), and (4) the dispersionless scanning tunneling conductance incommensurability. Properties (1), (3), and (4) are explained with no adjustable parameters, and (2) is explained with exactly one. The successful quantitative interpretation of four very distinct aspects of cuprate phenomenology by a simple counting rule provides strong evidence for four-site plaquette percolation in these materials. This suggests that inhomogeneity, percolation, and plaquettes play an essential role in cuprates. This geometric analysis may provide a useful guide to search for new compositions and structures with improved superconducting properties.

12 pages (5 pages main text + 7 pages supplement). Replaced due to added STM theory. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jz100265k

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• Origin of the Pseudogap in High-Temperature Cuprate Superconductors
• Jamming and percolation of $k^2$-mers on simple cubic lattices
• Cooper pairs without 'glue' in high-$T_c$ superconductors
• Resistance of High-Temperature Cuprate Superconductors
• Anyon Bosonization of 2D Fermions and Single Boson Phase Diagram Implied from Experiment on Visualizing Pair Formation in Superconductor Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_{8+δ}
• Nanoscale Phenomenology from Visualizing Pair Formation Experiment
• Condensation mechanism of high-$T_c$ cuprates: the key role of pairon excitations