Transport signatures of the pseudogap critical point in the cuprate superconductor Bi${}_2$Sr${}_{2-x}$La${}_x$CuO${}_{6+\delta }$

Abstract

Five transport coefficients of the cuprate superconductor Bi${}_2$Sr${}_{2-x}$La${}_x$CuO${}_{6+\delta }$ were measured in the normal state down to low temperature, reached by applying a magnetic field (up to 66T) large enough to suppress superconductivity. The electrical resistivity, Hall coefficient, thermal conductivity, Seebeck coefficient and thermal Hall conductivity were measured in two overdoped single crystals, with La concentration $x=0.2$ ($T_{\mathrm{c}}=18$K) and $x=0.0$ ($T_{\mathrm{c}}=10$K). The samples have dopings $p$ very close to the critical doping $p^{\star }$ where the pseudogap phase ends. The resistivity displays a linear dependence on temperature whose slope is consistent with Planckian dissipation. The Hall number $n_{\mathrm{H}}$ decreases with reduced $p$, consistent with a drop in carrier density from $n=1+p$ above $p^{\star }$ to $n=p$ below $p^{\star }$. This drop in $n_{\mathrm{H}}$ is concomitant with a sharp drop in the density of states inferred from prior NMR Knight shift measurements. The thermal conductivity satisfies the Wiedemann-Franz law, showing that the pseudogap phase at $T=0$ is a metal whose fermionic excitations carry heat and charge as do conventional electrons. The Seebeck coefficient diverges logarithmically at low temperature, a signature of quantum criticality. The thermal Hall conductivity becomes negative at low temperature, showing that phonons are chiral in the pseudogap phase. Given the observation of these same properties in other, very different cuprates, our study provides strong evidence for the universality of these five signatures of the pseudogap phase and its critical point.

Added references

References in corpus (10)

• Energy gaps in high-transition temperature cuprate superconductors
• Giant thermal Hall conductivity from neutral excitations in the pseudogap phase of cuprates
• Phonons become chiral in the pseudogap phase of cuprates
• Thermal Hall conductivity in the cuprate Mott insulators Nd${}_2$CuO${}_4$ and Sr${}_2$CuO${}_2$Cl${}_2$
• Observation of small Fermi pockets protected by clean CuO2 sheets of a high-Tc superconductor
• Normal state specific heat in the cuprates La${}_{2-x}$Sr${}_x$CuO${}_4$ and Bi${}_{2+y}$Sr${}_{2-x-y}$La${}_x$CuO${}_{6+\delta }$ near the critical point of the pseudogap phase
• Phenomenological theories of the low-temperature pseudogap: Hall number, specific heat and Seebeck coefficient
• Thermopower across the phase diagram of the cuprate La${}_{1.6-x}$Nd${}_{0.4}$Sr${}_x$CuO${}_4$ : signatures of the pseudogap and charge-density-wave phases
• Disappearance of Superconductivity and a Concomitant Lifshitz Transition in Heavily-Overdoped Bi2Sr2CuO6 Superconductor Revealed by Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy
• Influence of Disorder on the Hall Effect in Bi${}_2$Sr${}_2$CuO${}_{6+\delta }$

Cited by in corpus (15)

• Fermi surface transformation at the pseudogap critical point of a cuprate superconductor
• Reconciling scaling of the optical conductivity of cuprate superconductors with Planckian resistivity and specific heat
• Seebeck coefficient in a cuprate superconductor: particle-hole asymmetry in the strange metal phase and Fermi surface transformation in the pseudogap phase
• Skewed Non-Fermi Liquids and the Seebeck Effect
• Evolution of the cyclotron mass with doping in La${}_{2-x}$Sr${}_x$CuO${}_4$
• Planckian properties of 2D semiconductor systems
• Thermoelectric signature of quantum critical phase in a doped spin liquid candidate
• Planckian Dissipation and non-Ginzburg-Landau Type Upper Critical Field in Bi2201
• Charge Order and Fluctuations in Bi${}_2$Sr${}_{2-x}$La${}_x$CuO${}_{6+\delta }$ Revealed by ${}^{63,65}$Cu-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
• Transport properties of very overdoped nonsuperconducting Bi2Sr2CuO6+d thin films
• Thermal Hall Effect and Neutral Spinons in a Doped Mott Insulator
• Second Dome of Superconductivity in YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_7$ at High Pressure
• Electric transport in doped Mott insulators dictated by a non-Ioffe-Larkin composition rule and spinons
• Quantum-critical transport in marginal Fermi liquids
• Thermal Hall conductivity in the strongest cuprate superconductor: Estimate of the mean free path in the trilayer cuprate HgBa${}_2$Ca${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{8+\delta }$