Quasiparticle mass enhancement approaching optimal doping in a high-Tc superconductor

Abstract

In the quest for superconductors with high transition temperatures (T${}_{\mathrm{c}}$s), one emerging motif is that unconventional superconductivity is enhanced by fluctuations of a broken-symmetry phase near a quantum-critical point. While recent experiments have suggested the existence of the requisite broken symmetry phase in the high-T${}_{\mathrm{c}}$ cuprates, the signature of quantum-critical fluctuations in the electronic structure has thus far remained elusive, leaving their importance for high-T${}_{\mathrm{c}}$ superconductivity in question. We use magnetic fields exceeding 90 tesla to access the underlying metallic state of the cuprate YBa2Cu3O6+${}_{\delta }$ over an unprecedented range of doping, and magnetic quantum oscillations reveal a strong enhancement in the quasiparticle effective mass toward optimal doping. This mass enhancement is a characteristic signature of quantum criticality, and identifies a quantum-critical point at p${}_{crit}$ $\approx$ 0.18. This point also represents the juncture of the vanishing pseudogap energy scale and the disappearance of Kerr rotation, the negative Hall coefficient, and the recently observed charge order, suggesting a mechanism of high-T${}_{\mathrm{c}}$ that is strongest when these definitive experimental signatures of the underdoped cuprates converge at a quantum critical point.

4 figures. Supplementary info (15 figures). Science. Published online 26 March 2015

References in corpus (15)

• Quantum Criticality in Heavy Fermion Metals
• Direct observation of competition between superconductivity and charge density wave order in YBa2Cu3Oy
• Quantum oscillations and the Fermi surface in an underdoped high-Tc superconductor
• Magnetic order in the pseudogap phase of high-$T_C$ superconductors
• Electron pockets in the Fermi surface of hole-doped high-Tc superconductors
• Polar Kerr Effect Measurements of YBa2Cu3O6+x: Evidence for Broken Symmetry Near the Pseudogap Temperature
• Resonant X-ray Scattering Study of Charge Density Wave Correlations in YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{6+x}$
• Quantum Oscillations in the Underdoped Cuprate YBa2Cu4O8
• Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in YBa_2Cu_4O_8
• Lifshitz critical point in the cuprate superconductor YBa2Cu3Oy from high-field Hall effect measurements
• Competing charge, spin, and superconducting orders in underdoped YBa2Cu3Oy
• From high temperature supercondutivity to quantum spin liquid: progress in strong correlation physics
• The quantum critical point in CeRhIn_5: a resistivity study
• Normal-state nodal electronic structure in underdoped high-Tc copper oxides
• Vortex Lattice Melting and Hc2 in underdoped YBa2Cu3Oy

Cited by in corpus (20)

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• Quantum Oscillations in Hole-Doped Cuprates
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• Charge ordering in superconducting copper oxides
• Direct observation of charge order in underdoped and optimally doped Bi${}_2$(Sr,La)${}_2$CuO${}_{6+\delta }$ by resonant inelastic x-ray scattering
• Fermi surface reconstruction and drop of Hall number due to spiral antiferromagnetism in high-$T_c$ cuprates
• Quantum critical metals in $4-\epsilon$ dimensions
• Pure nematic quantum critical point accompanied by a superconducting dome
• Crossover from Collective to Incoherent Spin Excitations in Superconducting Cuprates Probed by Detuned Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering
• Thermodynamic approach for enhancing superconducting critical current performance
• Signature of frustrated moments in quantum critical CePd${}_{1-x}$Ni${}_x$Al
• Anomalous Scaling of the Penetration Depth in Nodal Superconductors
• Identification of a Critical Doping for Charge Order Phenomena in Bi-2212 Cuprates via RIXS
• Shubnikov-de Haas quantum oscilations reveal a reconstructed Fermi surface near optimal doping in a thin film of the cuprate superconductor Pr${}_{1.86}$Ce${}_{0.14}$CuO${}_{4\pm \delta }$
• Magnetic oscillations measure interlayer coupling in cuprate superconductors
• Superfluid density and two-component conductivity in hole-doped cuprates
• High density of states in the pseudogap phase of the cuprate superconductor HgBa${}_2$CuO${}_{4+\delta }$
• Arc-to-pocket transition and quantitative understanding of transport properties in cuprate superconductors
• The magnetic susceptibility of YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{6+x}$ crystals: unusual Curie behavior and small contributions from charge density waves
• PhD Thesis: Electronic correlations in multiorbital systems