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Loss of nodal quasiparticle integrity in underdoped YBa2Cu3O6+x

Nature Physics volume 6, pages 905–911 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

A central question in the study of high-temperature superconductivity is whether this phenomenon is linked to the doped antiferromagnetic Mott insulator or whether it emerges from a Fermi-liquid state across the whole cuprate phase diagram. Discriminating between these orthogonal cases hinges on the quantitative determination of the elusive quasiparticle strength Z as a function of hole-doping p, from the heavily overdoped to the deeply underdoped regime. Here we show, by means of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and an in situ doping technique, that the electronic structure of the overdoped metal (0.24≤p≤0.37) is in remarkable agreement with density functional theory and Fermi-liquid-like descriptions. However, below p≈0.10–0.15, we observe the loss of nodal quasiparticle integrity. This marks a clear departure from Fermi-liquid behaviour and a more rapid than expected crossover to Mott physics, indicating that the physical properties of underdoped cuprates are dominated by incoherent excitations.

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Figure 1: Fermi surface and band dispersion across the YBCO phase diagram.
Figure 2: Doping evolution of the gap in YBCO.
Figure 3: K evaporation: effective hole-doping determination.
Figure 4: Doping evolution of nodal kF,NB, kF,NAB, and ZN.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge W. A. Atkinson, J. P. Carbotte, D. Munzar, M. R. Norman, G. A. Sawatzky, T. Senthil and D. van der Marel for discussions. This work was supported by the Killam Program (A.D.), the A. P. Sloan Foundation (A.D.), the CRC Program (A.D.), NSERC, CFI, CIFAR Quantum Materials and BCSI. The Advanced Light Source is supported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the US Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada

    D. Fournier, G. Levy, Y. Pennec, W. N. Hardy, D. A. Bonn & A. Damascelli

  2. Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA

    J. L. McChesney, A. Bostwick & E. Rotenberg

  3. QMI, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada

    R. Liang, W. N. Hardy, D. A. Bonn, I. S. Elfimov & A. Damascelli

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  1. D. Fournier
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Contributions

D.F. and A.D. conceived this investigation and are responsible for data analysis and interpretation. D.F. and G.L. carried out the ARPES experiments, with the assistance of J.L.M., A.B. and E.R. for the work at ALS. Y.P. carried out the STM experiments. R.L., W.N.H. and D.A.B. fabricated and characterized the samples. I.S.E. carried out the density functional theory calculations. All of the authors discussed the underlying physics and contributed to the manuscript. A.D. was responsible for overall project direction, planning, and management.

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Correspondence to D. Fournier or A. Damascelli.

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Fournier, D., Levy, G., Pennec, Y. et al. Loss of nodal quasiparticle integrity in underdoped YBa2Cu3O6+x. Nature Phys 6, 905–911 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1763

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