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Resonance as a measure of pairing correlations in the high-Tc superconductor YBa2Cu3O6.6

Nature volume 406, pages 965–968 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

One of the most striking properties of the high-transition-temperature (high-Tc) superconductors is that they are all derived from insulating antiferromagnetic parent compounds. The intimate relationship between magnetism and superconductivity in these copper oxide materials has intrigued researchers from the outset1,2,3,4, because it does not exist in conventional superconductors. Evidence for this link comes from neutron-scattering experiments that show the unambiguous presence of short-range antiferromagnetic correlations (excitations) in the high-Tc superconductors. Even so, the role of such excitations in the pairing mechanism for superconductivity is still a subject of controversy5. For YBa2Cu3O6+x, where x controls the hole-doping level, the most prominent feature in the magnetic excitation spectrum is a sharp resonance (refs 6,7,8,9,10,11). Here we show that for underdoped YBa2Cu3O6.6, where x and Tc are below their optimal values, modest magnetic fields suppress the resonance significantly, much more so for fields approximately perpendicular to the CuO2 planes than for parallel fields. Our results indicate that the resonance measures pairing and phase coherence, suggesting that magnetism plays an important role in high-Tc superconductivity. The persistence of a field effect above Tc favours mechanisms in which the superconducting electron pairs are pre-formed in the normal state of underdoped copper oxide superconductors12,13,14, awaiting transition to the superconducting state.

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Figure 1: Reciprocal lattice diagram and neutron scattering results.
Figure 2: Effect of a magnetic field on the momentum dependence of the spin excitations.
Figure 3: Effect of a magnetic field on the energy dependence of the spin excitations.
Figure 4: Effect of a magnetic field on the temperature dependence of the resonance and the field dependence of the resonance at about 10 K.

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Acknowledgements

We thank B. Janko, A. Junod, A. Kapitulnik, M. V. Klein, Ch. Renner and D. J. Scalapino for discussions. The work at ORNL was supported by the US DOE.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, 37831-6393, Tennessee, USA

    Pengcheng Dai & H. A. Mook

  2. NEC Research Institute, Princeton, 08540, New Jersey, USA

    G. Aeppli

  3. H. H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TL, UK

    S. M. Hayden

  4. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, 98195, Washington , USA

    F. Doğan

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  1. Pengcheng Dai
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Correspondence to Pengcheng Dai.

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Dai, P., Mook, H., Aeppli, G. et al. Resonance as a measure of pairing correlations in the high-Tc superconductor YBa2Cu3O6.6. Nature 406, 965–968 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35023094

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