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A universal scaling relation in high-temperature superconductors

Nature volume 430, pages 539–541 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Since the discovery of superconductivity at elevated temperatures in the copper oxide materials1 there has been a considerable effort to find universal trends and correlations amongst physical quantities, as a clue to the origin of the superconductivity. One of the earliest patterns that emerged was the linear scaling of the superfluid density (ρs) with the superconducting transition temperature (Tc), which marks the onset of phase coherence. This is referred to as the Uemura relation2, and it works reasonably well for the underdoped materials. It does not, however, describe optimally doped (where Tc is a maximum) or overdoped materials3. Similarly, an attempt to scale the superfluid density with the d.c. conductivity (σdc) was only partially successful4. Here we report a simple scaling relation (ρs∝σdcTc, with σdc measured at approximately Tc) that holds for all tested high-Tc materials. It holds regardless of doping level, nature of dopant (electrons versus holes), crystal structure and type of disorder5, and direction (parallel or perpendicular to the copper–oxygen planes).

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Figure 1: Plot of the superfluid density (ρs) versus the product of the d.c. conductivity (σdc) and the superconducting transition temperature (Tc) for a variety of copper oxides and some simple metals.
Figure 2: As Fig. 1 but for copper oxides only, and including data for the poorly conducting c axis.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. Chubukov, P. D. Johnson, S. A. Kivelson, P. A. Lee, D. B. Tanner, J. J. Tu, Y. Uemura and T. Valla for discussions. Work in Canada was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. The HgBa2CuO4+δ crystal growth work at Stanford University was supported by the Department of Energy's Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering. Work at the University of California at San Diego was supported by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy. Work at Brookhaven was supported by the Department of Energy.

Author information

Author notes

  1. N. Kaneko

    Present address: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba Central 2-2, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8568, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York, 11973, USA

    C. C. Homes, S. V. Dordevic & M. Strongin

  2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 2A6, Canada

    D. A. Bonn, Ruixing Liang & W. N. Hardy

  3. Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, 201-8511, Komae, Tokyo, Japan

    Seiki Komiya & Yoichi Ando

  4. Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California, 94305, USA

    G. Yu

  5. Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, Stanford, California, 94309, USA

    N. Kaneko, X. Zhao & M. Greven

  6. Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California, 94305, USA

    M. Greven

  7. Department of Physics, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California, 92093, USA

    D. N. Basov

  8. Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4M1, Canada

    T. Timusk

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Correspondence to C. C. Homes.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Tables 1 and 2

Supplementary Table 1: The values for a variety of high-Tc cuprate superconductors for the critical temperature, dc conductivity close to the critical temperature, superfluid density and the penetration depth, in the a-b planes. Supplementary Table 2: The same quantities described in Supplementary Table 1, except along the c axis. (DOC 36 kb)

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Homes, C., Dordevic, S., Strongin, M. et al. A universal scaling relation in high-temperature superconductors. Nature 430, 539–541 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02673

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