Letter abstract
Nature Physics 3, 163 - 167 (2007)
doi:10.1038/nphys546
Subject Categories: Condensed-matter physics | Materials physics
Two energy scales in the spin excitations of the high-temperature superconductor La2-xSrxCuO4
B. Vignolle1, S. M. Hayden1, D. F. McMorrow2,3, H. M. Rønnow4, B. Lake5, C. D. Frost3 and T. G. Perring3
The excitations responsible for producing high-temperature superconductivity in the copper oxides have yet to be identified. Two promising candidates are collective spin excitations and phonons1. A recent argument against spin excitations is based on their inability to explain structures observed in electronic spectroscopies such as photoemission2, 3, 4, 5 and optical conductivity6, 7. Here, we use inelastic neutron scattering to demonstrate that collective spin excitations in optimally doped La2-xSrxCuO4 are more structured than previously thought. The excitations have a two-component structure with a low-frequency component strongest around 18 meV and a broader component peaking near 40–70 meV. The second component carries most of the spectral weight and its energy matches structures observed in photoemission2, 3, 4, 5 in the range 50–90 meV. Our results demonstrate that collective spin excitations can explain features of electronic spectroscopies and are therefore likely to be strongly coupled to the electron quasiparticles.
- H. H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, Tyndall Ave., Bristol BS8 1TL, UK
- London Centre for Nanotechnology and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
- ISIS Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot OX11 0QX, UK
- Laboratory for Neutron Scattering, ETH-Zürich and Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland
- Hahn-Meitner Institut, Berlin D-14109, Germany
Correspondence to: S. M. Hayden1 e-mail: s.hayden@bris.ac.uk
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