Spin fluctuations associated with the collapse of the pseudogap in a cuprate superconductor

M. Zhu; D. J. Voneshen; S. Raymond; O. J. Lipscombe; C. C. Tam; S. M. Hayden

doi:10.48550/arXiv.2201.11719

Spin fluctuations associated with the collapse of the pseudogap in a cuprate superconductor

M. Zhu^*, D. J. Voneshen, S. Raymond, O. J. Lipscombe, C. C. Tam, S. M. Hayden^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Theories of the origin of superconductivity in cuprates are dependent on an understanding of their normal state which exhibits various competing orders. Transport and thermodynamic measurements on La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ show signatures of a quantum critical point, including a peak in the electronic specific heat $C$ versus doping p, near the doping p*, where the pseudogap collapses. The fundamental nature of the fluctuations associated with this peak is unclear. Here we use inelastic neutron scattering to show that close to $T_c$ and near p*, there are low-energy collective spin excitations with characteristic energies $\approx$ 5 meV. The correlation length of the spin fluctuations does not diverge in spite of the low energy scale and we conclude that the underlying quantum criticality is not due to antiferromagnetism but most likely to a collapse of the pseudogap. We show that the large specific heat near p* can be understood in terms of collective spin fluctuations. The spin fluctuations we measure exist across the superconducting phase diagram and may be related to the strange metal behaviour observed in overdoped cuprates.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	99-105
Number of pages	7
Journal	Nature Physics
Volume	19
Issue number	1
Early online date	17 Nov 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2201.11719 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01825-3
Publication status	Published - 1 Jan 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We are grateful to J. R. Stewart for running the LET experiment. We acknowledge useful discussions with A. Carrington and N. E. Hussey. M.Z. and S.M.H. acknowledge funding and support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under grant no. EP/R011141/1. We acknowledge the ISIS Facility for instrument time at beamline LET under proposal RB1920542, MERLIN under proposal RB2010576 and Institut Laue-Langevin for time at IN12 under proposal no. 4-02-561.

Funding Information:
We are grateful to J. R. Stewart for running the LET experiment. We acknowledge useful discussions with A. Carrington and N. E. Hussey. M.Z. and S.M.H. acknowledge funding and support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under grant no. EP/R011141/1. We acknowledge the ISIS Facility for instrument time at beamline LET under proposal RB1920542, MERLIN under proposal RB2010576 and Institut Laue-Langevin for time at IN12 under proposal no. 4-02-561.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

Keywords

cond-mat.supr-con
cond-mat.str-el

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10.1038/s41567-022-01825-3

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This is the accepted author manuscript (AAM). The final published version (version of record) is available online via Nature Springer at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01825-3. Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.
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https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.11719

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title = "Spin fluctuations associated with the collapse of the pseudogap in a cuprate superconductor",

abstract = "Theories of the origin of superconductivity in cuprates are dependent on an understanding of their normal state which exhibits various competing orders. Transport and thermodynamic measurements on La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ show signatures of a quantum critical point, including a peak in the electronic specific heat $C$ versus doping p, near the doping p*, where the pseudogap collapses. The fundamental nature of the fluctuations associated with this peak is unclear. Here we use inelastic neutron scattering to show that close to $T_c$ and near p*, there are low-energy collective spin excitations with characteristic energies $\approx$ 5 meV. The correlation length of the spin fluctuations does not diverge in spite of the low energy scale and we conclude that the underlying quantum criticality is not due to antiferromagnetism but most likely to a collapse of the pseudogap. We show that the large specific heat near p* can be understood in terms of collective spin fluctuations. The spin fluctuations we measure exist across the superconducting phase diagram and may be related to the strange metal behaviour observed in overdoped cuprates. ",

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author = "M. Zhu and Voneshen, {D. J.} and S. Raymond and Lipscombe, {O. J.} and Tam, {C. C.} and Hayden, {S. M.}",

note = "Funding Information: We are grateful to J. R. Stewart for running the LET experiment. We acknowledge useful discussions with A. Carrington and N. E. Hussey. M.Z. and S.M.H. acknowledge funding and support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under grant no. EP/R011141/1. We acknowledge the ISIS Facility for instrument time at beamline LET under proposal RB1920542, MERLIN under proposal RB2010576 and Institut Laue-Langevin for time at IN12 under proposal no. 4-02-561. Funding Information: We are grateful to J. R. Stewart for running the LET experiment. We acknowledge useful discussions with A. Carrington and N. E. Hussey. M.Z. and S.M.H. acknowledge funding and support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under grant no. EP/R011141/1. We acknowledge the ISIS Facility for instrument time at beamline LET under proposal RB1920542, MERLIN under proposal RB2010576 and Institut Laue-Langevin for time at IN12 under proposal no. 4-02-561. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.",

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AU - Voneshen, D. J.

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AU - Lipscombe, O. J.

AU - Tam, C. C.

AU - Hayden, S. M.

N1 - Funding Information: We are grateful to J. R. Stewart for running the LET experiment. We acknowledge useful discussions with A. Carrington and N. E. Hussey. M.Z. and S.M.H. acknowledge funding and support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under grant no. EP/R011141/1. We acknowledge the ISIS Facility for instrument time at beamline LET under proposal RB1920542, MERLIN under proposal RB2010576 and Institut Laue-Langevin for time at IN12 under proposal no. 4-02-561. Funding Information: We are grateful to J. R. Stewart for running the LET experiment. We acknowledge useful discussions with A. Carrington and N. E. Hussey. M.Z. and S.M.H. acknowledge funding and support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under grant no. EP/R011141/1. We acknowledge the ISIS Facility for instrument time at beamline LET under proposal RB1920542, MERLIN under proposal RB2010576 and Institut Laue-Langevin for time at IN12 under proposal no. 4-02-561. Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

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N2 - Theories of the origin of superconductivity in cuprates are dependent on an understanding of their normal state which exhibits various competing orders. Transport and thermodynamic measurements on La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ show signatures of a quantum critical point, including a peak in the electronic specific heat $C$ versus doping p, near the doping p*, where the pseudogap collapses. The fundamental nature of the fluctuations associated with this peak is unclear. Here we use inelastic neutron scattering to show that close to $T_c$ and near p*, there are low-energy collective spin excitations with characteristic energies $\approx$ 5 meV. The correlation length of the spin fluctuations does not diverge in spite of the low energy scale and we conclude that the underlying quantum criticality is not due to antiferromagnetism but most likely to a collapse of the pseudogap. We show that the large specific heat near p* can be understood in terms of collective spin fluctuations. The spin fluctuations we measure exist across the superconducting phase diagram and may be related to the strange metal behaviour observed in overdoped cuprates.

AB - Theories of the origin of superconductivity in cuprates are dependent on an understanding of their normal state which exhibits various competing orders. Transport and thermodynamic measurements on La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ show signatures of a quantum critical point, including a peak in the electronic specific heat $C$ versus doping p, near the doping p*, where the pseudogap collapses. The fundamental nature of the fluctuations associated with this peak is unclear. Here we use inelastic neutron scattering to show that close to $T_c$ and near p*, there are low-energy collective spin excitations with characteristic energies $\approx$ 5 meV. The correlation length of the spin fluctuations does not diverge in spite of the low energy scale and we conclude that the underlying quantum criticality is not due to antiferromagnetism but most likely to a collapse of the pseudogap. We show that the large specific heat near p* can be understood in terms of collective spin fluctuations. The spin fluctuations we measure exist across the superconducting phase diagram and may be related to the strange metal behaviour observed in overdoped cuprates.

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KW - cond-mat.str-el

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M3 - Article (Academic Journal)

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EP - 105

JO - Nature Physics

JF - Nature Physics

IS - 1

ER -

Spin fluctuations associated with the collapse of the pseudogap in a cuprate superconductor

Abstract

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