Abstract
High-temperature superconductivity in copper oxides occurs when the materials are chemically tuned to have a carrier concentration intermediate between their metallic state at high doping and their insulating state at zero doping. The underlying evolution of the electron system in the absence of superconductivity is still unclear, and a question of central importance is whether it involves any intermediate phase with broken symmetry1. The Fermi surface of the electronic states in the underdoped ‘YBCO’ materials YBa2Cu3Oy and YBa2Cu4O8 was recently shown to include small pockets2,3,4, in contrast with the large cylinder that characterizes the overdoped regime5, pointing to a topological change in the Fermi surface. Here we report the observation of a negative Hall resistance in the magnetic-field-induced normal state of YBa2Cu3Oy and YBa2Cu4O8, which reveals that these pockets are electron-like rather than hole-like. We propose that these electron pockets most probably arise from a reconstruction of the Fermi surface caused by the onset of a density-wave phase, as is thought to occur in the electron-doped copper oxides near the onset of antiferromagnetic order6,7. Comparison with materials of the La2CuO4 family that exhibit spin/charge density-wave order8,9,10,11 suggests that a Fermi surface reconstruction also occurs in those materials, pointing to a generic property of high-transition-temperature (Tc) superconductors.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Julian, S. R. & Norman, M. R. Local pairs and small surfaces. Nature 447, 537–539 (2007)
Doiron-Leyraud, N. et al. Quantum oscillations and the Fermi surface in an underdoped high-T c superconductor. Nature 447, 565–568 (2007)
Yelland, E. A. et al. Quantum oscillations in the underdoped cuprate YBa2Cu4O8 . Preprint at 〈http://arXiv.org/abs/0707.0057〉 (2007)
Bangura, A. F. et al. Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in YBa2Cu4O8 . Preprint at 〈http://arXiv.org/abs/0707.4461〉 (2007)
Hussey, N. E. et al. Observation of a coherent three-dimensional Fermi surface in a high-transition temperature superconductor. Nature 425, 814–817 (2003)
Li, P., Balakirev, F. F. & Greene, R. L. High-field Hall resistivity and magneto-resistance in electron-doped Pr2-xCexCuO4-δ . Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 047003 (2007)
Lin, J. & Millis, A. J. Theory of low-temperature Hall effect in electron-doped cuprates. Phys. Rev. B 72, 214506 (2005)
Tranquada, J. M. et al. Evidence for stripe correlations of spins and holes in copper oxide superconductors. Nature 375, 561–563 (1995)
Ichikawa, N. et al. Local magnetic order vs superconductivity in a layered cuprate. Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 1738–1741 (2000)
Noda, T., Eisaki, H. & Uchida, S. Evidence for one-dimensional charge transport in La2-y-xNdySrxCuO4 . Science 286, 265–268 (1999)
Adachi, T., Noji, T. & Koike, Y. Crystal growth, transport properties, and crystal structure of the single-crystal La2-xBaxCuO4 (x = 0.11). Phys. Rev. B 64, 144524 (2001)
Harris, J. M. et al. Hall angle evidence for the superclean regime in 60-K YBa2Cu3O6+y . Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, 1711–1714 (1994)
Ito, T., Takenaka, K. & Uchida, S. Systematic deviation from T-linear behavior in the in-plane resistivity of YBa2Cu3O7-y: evidence for dominant spin scattering. Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 3995–3998 (1993)
Wang, Y. & Ong, N. P. Particle-hole symmetry in the antiferromagnetic state of the cuprates. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 98, 11091–11096 (2001)
Segawa, K. & Ando, Y. Intrinsic Hall response of the CuO2 planes in a chain-plane composite system of YBa2Cu3Oy . Phys. Rev. B 69, 104521 (2004)
Ong, N. P. Geometric interpretation of the weak-field Hall conductivity in two-dimensional metals with arbitrary Fermi surface. Phys. Rev. B 43, 193–201 (1991)
Ashcroft, N. W. The reversal of Hall fields in aluminium and indium. Phys. Kondens. Mater. 9, 45–53 (1969)
Huntley, D. J. & Frindt, R. F. Transport properties of NbSe2 . Can. J. Phys. 52, 861–867 (1974)
Chen, W.-Q., Yang, K.-Y., Rice, T. M. & Zhang, F.-C. Quantum oscillations in magnetic-field-induced antiferromagnetic phase of underdoped cuprates: application to ortho-II YBa2Cu3O6. 5 . Preprint at 〈http://arXiv.org/abs/0706.3556〉 (2007)
Balakirev, F. F. et al. Signature of optimal doping in Hall-effect measurements on a high-temperature superconductor. Nature 424, 912–915 (2003)
Balakirev, F. F. et al. Magneto-transport in LSCO high-T c superconducting thin films. N. J. Phys. 8, 194 (2006)
Horii, S. et al. On the dimensionality of the Cu-O double-chain site of PrBa2Cu4O8 . Phys. Rev. B 66, 054530 (2002)
Baumberger, F. et al. Nested Fermi surface and electronic instability in Ca3Ru2O7 . Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 107601 (2006)
Chakravarty, S. et al. Sharp signature of a d x2-y2 quantum critical point in the Hall coefficient of cuprate superconductors. Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 277003 (2002)
Millis, A. J. & Norman, M. R. Antiphase stripe order as the origin of electron pockets observed in 1/8-hole-doped cuprates. Preprint at 〈http://arXiv.org/abs/0709.0106〉 (2007)
Kivelson, S. A. et al. How to detect fluctuating stripes in the high-temperature superconductors. Rev. Mod. Phys. 75, 1201–1241 (2003)
Kohsaka, Y. et al. An intrinsic bond-centered electronic glass with unidirectional domains in underdoped cuprates. Science 315, 1380–1385 (2007)
Hücker, M. et al. Consequences of stripe order for the transport properties of rare earth doped La2-xSrxCuO4 . J. Phys. Chem. Solids 59, 1821–1824 (1998)
Adachi, S. et al. Preparation of YBa2Cu4O8 single crystals in Y2O3 crucible using O2 –HIP apparatus. Physica C 301, 123–128 (1998)
Liang, R., Bonn, D. A. & Hardy, W. N. Evaluation of CuO2 plane hole doping in YBa2Cu3O6+x single crystals. Phys. Rev. B 73, 180505 (2006)
Acknowledgements
We thank N. W. Ashcroft, K. Behnia, L. Brisson, S. Chakravarty, J. C. Davis, R. L. Greene, S. A. Kivelson, G. G. Lonzarich, M. R. Norman, A. J. Schofield, A.-M. S. Tremblay and D. Vignolle for discussions, and J. Corbin and M. Nardone for their help with the experiments. We acknowledge support from the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, the LNCMP and the NHMFL, and funding from the NSERC, the FQRNT, the EPSRC and a Canada Research Chair. Part of this work was supported by the French ANR IceNET and EuroMagNET. The NHMFL is supported by an NSF grant and the State of Florida.
Author Contributions D.L. and N.D.-L. contributed equally to this work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Supplementary information
Supplementary Information
The file contains Supplementary Notes with additional references and Supplementary Figures S1-S5 with Legends. (PDF 2594 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
LeBoeuf, D., Doiron-Leyraud, N., Levallois, J. et al. Electron pockets in the Fermi surface of hole-doped high-Tc superconductors. Nature 450, 533–536 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06332
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06332
This article is cited by
-
Microscopic theory of novel pseudogap phenomena and Bose-liquid superconductivity and superfluidity in high-\(T_c\) cuprates and other systems
Pramana (2023)
-
Magnetotransport signatures of antiferromagnetism coexisting with charge order in the trilayer cuprate HgBa2Ca2Cu3O8+δ
Nature Communications (2022)
-
Charge density waves and Fermi surface reconstruction in the clean overdoped cuprate superconductor Tl2Ba2CuO6+δ
Nature Communications (2022)
-
Waves divide the Fermi sea
Nature Physics (2022)
-
Fermi surface transformation at the pseudogap critical point of a cuprate superconductor
Nature Physics (2022)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.