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Title: Unusual behavior of cuprates explained by heterogeneous charge localization

Journal Article · · Science Advances
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [4]; ORCiD logo [5]
  1. Univ. of Zagreb (Croatia); Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States); DOE/OSTI
  2. Technische Univ. Wien (Austria). Inst. of Solid State Physics; Inst. of Physics, Zagreb (Croatia)
  3. Univ. of Zagreb (Croatia)
  4. Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)
  5. Univ. of Zagreb (Croatia); Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States); Technische Univ. Wien (Austria). Inst. of Solid State Physics

The discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in cuprates ranks among the major scientific milestones of the past half century, yet pivotal questions regarding the complex phase diagram of these materials remain unanswered. Generally thought of as doped charge-transfer insulators, these complex oxides exhibit pseudogap, strange-metal, superconducting, and Fermi liquid behavior with increasing hole-dopant concentration. Motivated by recent experimental observations, here we introduce a phenomenological model wherein exactly one hole per planar copper-oxygen unit is delocalized with increasing doping and temperature. The model is percolative in nature, with parameters that are highly consistent with experiments. It comprehensively captures key unconventional experimental results, including the temperature and the doping dependence of the pseudogap phenomenon, the strange-metal linear temperature dependence of the planar resistivity, and the doping dependence of the superfluid density. The success and simplicity of the model greatly demystify the cuprate phase diagram and point to a local superconducting pairing mechanism.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Croatian Science Foundation; European Research Council (ERC); USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0016371
OSTI ID:
1612522
Journal Information:
Science Advances, Journal Name: Science Advances Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 5; ISSN 2375-2548
Publisher:
AAASCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (5)

High-Temperature Superconductors as Ionic Metals journal October 2019
Universal superconducting precursor in three classes of unconventional superconductors journal June 2019
Diagonal nematicity in the pseudogap phase of HgBa2CuO4+δ journal July 2019
Crossover of Charge Fluctuations across the Strange Metal Phase Diagram journal December 2019
Crossover of Charge Fluctuations across the Strange Metal Phase Diagram text January 2019