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Title: Low-energy antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations limit the coherent superconducting gap in cuprates

Abstract

Motivated by recent attention to a potential antiferromagnetic quantum critical point at xc∼0.19, we have used inelastic neutron scattering to investigate the low-energy spin excitations in crystals of La2-xSrxCuO4 bracketing xc. We observe a peak in the normal-state spin-fluctuation weight at ∼20meV for both x=0.21 and 0.17, inconsistent with quantum critical behavior. The presence of the peak raises the question of whether low-energy spin fluctuations limit the onset of superconducting order. Empirically evaluating the spin gap Δspin in the superconducting state, we find that Δspin is equal to the coherent superconducting gap Δc determined by electronic spectroscopies. To test whether this is a general result for other cuprate families, we have checked through the literature and find that Δc ≤Δ spin for cuprates with uniform d-wave superconductivity. We discuss the implications of this result.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
  2. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ (United States)
  3. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1484442
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1485738; OSTI ID: 1528736
Report Number(s):
BNL-209643-2018-JAAM
Journal ID: ISSN 2469-9950
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0012704; AC05-00OR22725
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review B
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 98; Journal Issue: 22; Journal ID: ISSN 2469-9950
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY

Citation Formats

Li, Yangmu, Zhong, Ruidan, Stone, Matthew B., Kolesnikov, Alexander I., Gu, G. D., Zaliznyak, I. A., and Tranquada, J. M. Low-energy antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations limit the coherent superconducting gap in cuprates. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.98.224508.
Li, Yangmu, Zhong, Ruidan, Stone, Matthew B., Kolesnikov, Alexander I., Gu, G. D., Zaliznyak, I. A., & Tranquada, J. M. Low-energy antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations limit the coherent superconducting gap in cuprates. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.98.224508
Li, Yangmu, Zhong, Ruidan, Stone, Matthew B., Kolesnikov, Alexander I., Gu, G. D., Zaliznyak, I. A., and Tranquada, J. M. Thu . "Low-energy antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations limit the coherent superconducting gap in cuprates". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.98.224508. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1484442.
@article{osti_1484442,
title = {Low-energy antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations limit the coherent superconducting gap in cuprates},
author = {Li, Yangmu and Zhong, Ruidan and Stone, Matthew B. and Kolesnikov, Alexander I. and Gu, G. D. and Zaliznyak, I. A. and Tranquada, J. M.},
abstractNote = {Motivated by recent attention to a potential antiferromagnetic quantum critical point at xc∼0.19, we have used inelastic neutron scattering to investigate the low-energy spin excitations in crystals of La2-xSrxCuO4 bracketing xc. We observe a peak in the normal-state spin-fluctuation weight at ∼20meV for both x=0.21 and 0.17, inconsistent with quantum critical behavior. The presence of the peak raises the question of whether low-energy spin fluctuations limit the onset of superconducting order. Empirically evaluating the spin gap Δspin in the superconducting state, we find that Δspin is equal to the coherent superconducting gap Δc determined by electronic spectroscopies. To test whether this is a general result for other cuprate families, we have checked through the literature and find that Δc ≤Δ spin for cuprates with uniform d-wave superconductivity. We discuss the implications of this result.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevB.98.224508},
journal = {Physical Review B},
number = 22,
volume = 98,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Dec 13 00:00:00 EST 2018},
month = {Thu Dec 13 00:00:00 EST 2018}
}

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Cited by: 18 works
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Works referencing / citing this record:

Nematic fluctuations in the cuprate superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ
journal, November 2019


Disappearance of superconductivity due to vanishing coupling in the overdoped Bi$$_{2}$$2Sr$$_{2}$$2CaCu$$_{2}$$2O$$_{8+\delta }$$8+δ
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Superconductor-metal transition in odd-frequency–paired superconductor in a magnetic field
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Incoherent strange metal sharply bounded by a critical doping in Bi2212
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