Doping-driven transition to a time-reversal breaking state in the phase diagram of the cuprates

Abstract

Motivated by recent tunnelling and Andreev-reflection experiments, we study the conditions for a quantum transition within the superconducting phase of the cuprates,in which a bulk imaginary (time-reversal breaking) $i{d}_{xy}$component appears in addition to the $d_{x^2-y^2}$ order parameter. We examine in detail the role of some important physical features of the cuprates.In particular we show that a closed Fermi surface,a bilayer splitting, an orthorhombic distortion,and the proximity to a quantum critical point around optimal doping favor the appearance of the imaginary component. These findings could explain why the mixed $d_{x^2-y^2}+i{d}_{xy}$ order parameter is observed in YBCO and LSCO, and suggest that it could appear also in Bi2212. We also predict that, in all cuprates, the mixed state should be stable only in a limited doping region all contained beneath the $d_{x^2-y^2}$ dome. The behavior of the specific heat at the secondary transition is discussed.

8 pages, 3 figures. Expanded text, 1 extra figure

References in corpus (9)

• Bilayer Splitting in the Electronic Structure of Heavily Overdoped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d
• Doubling of the bands in overdoped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8-probable evidence for c-axis bilayer coupling
• Evidence of Doping-Dependent Pairing Symmetry in Cuprate Superconductors
• Origin of the peak-dip-hump structure in the photoemission spectra of Bi2212
• Anomalous isotopic effect near the charge-ordering quantum criticality
• Tunneling conductance of normal metal / $d_{x^2-y^2}$-wave superconductor junctions in the presence of broken time reversal symmetry states near interfaces
• First Principle Electronic Model for High-Temperature Superconductivity
• Evidence for pseudogap and phase-coherence gap separation by Andreev reflection experiments in Au/La_{2-x}Sr_{x}CuO_4 point-contact junctions
• Quantum phase transitions of correlated electrons in two dimensions

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Impact of disorder on unconventional superconductors with competing ground states
• Out-of-plane impurities induced the deviation from the monotonic d-wave superconducting gap in cuprate superconductors
• On the possible secondary component of the order parameter observed in London penetration depth measurements
• Evidence of a subenergy gap in the overdoped regime of Y_{1-x}Ca_{x}Ba_{2}Cu_{3}O_{7-δ} thin films from THz Spectroscopy