skip to main content
Explore Scholarly Publications and Datasets in the NSF-PAR

  • NSF Public Access
  • Search Results
  • Accepted Manuscript: Valence transition model of the pseudogap, charge order, and superconductivity in electron-doped and hole-doped copper oxides
Title: Valence transition model of the pseudogap, charge order, and superconductivity in electron-doped and hole-doped copper oxides
We present a valence transition model for electron- and hole-doped cuprates, within which there occurs a discrete jump in ionicity Cu2+ -> Cu1+ in both families upon doping, at or near optimal doping in the conventionally prepared electron-doped compounds and at the pseudogap phase transition in the hole-doped materials. In thin films of the T' compounds, the valence transition has occurred already in the undoped state. The phenomenology of the valence transition is closely related to that of the neutral-to-ionic transition in mixed-stack organic charge-transfer solids. Doped cuprates have negative charge-transfer gaps, just as rare-earth nickelates and BaBiO3. The unusually high ionization energy of the closed shell Cu1+ ion, taken together with the dopingdriven reduction in three-dimensional Madelung energy and gain in two-dimensional delocalization energy in the negative charge transfer gap state drives the transition in the cuprates. The combined effects of strong correlations and small d-p electron hoppings ensure that the systems behave as effective 1/2-filled Cu band with the closed shell electronically inactive O2- ions in the undoped state, and as correlated two-dimensional geometrically frustrated 1/4-filled oxygen hole band, now with electronically inactive closed-shell Cu1+ ions, in the doped state. The model thus gives microscopic justification for the more » two-fluid models suggested by many authors. The theory gives the simplest yet most comprehensive understanding of experiments in the normal states. The robust commensurate antiferromagnetism in the conventional T' crystals, the strong role of oxygen deficiency in driving superconductivity and charge carrier sign corresponding to holes at optimal doping are all manifestations of the same quantum state. In the hole-doped pseudogapped state, there occurs a biaxial commensurate period 4 charge density wave state consisting of O1- -Cu l(1+)-O1- spin singlets that coexists with broken rotational C-4 symmetry due to intraunit cell oxygen inequivalence. Finite domains of this broken symmetry state will exhibit twodimensional chirality and the polar Kerr effect. Superconductivity within the model results from a destabilization of the 1/4-filled band paired Wigner crystal [Phys. Rev. B 93, 165110 (2016) and ihid. 93, 205111 (2016)]. We posit that a similar valence transition, Ir4+ -> Ir3+, occurs upon electron doping Sr2IrO4. We make testable experimental predictions in cuprates including superoxygenated La2CuO4+delta and iridates. Finally, as indirect evidence for the valence bond theory of superconductivity proposed here, we note that there exist an unusually large number of unconventional superconductors that exhibit superconductivity proximate to exotic charge ordered states, whose band fillings are universally 1/4 or 3/4, exactly where the paired Wigner crystal is most stable. « less
Authors:
Award ID(s):
1764152
Publication Date:
NSF-PAR ID:
10098347
Journal Name:
Physical review. B, Condensed matter
Volume:
98
Page Range or eLocation-ID:
205153
ISSN:
1095-3795
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ( , Physical review)
    In standard doping, adding charge carrier to a compound results in a shift of the Fermi level towards the conduction band for electron doping and towards the valence band for hole doping. We discuss the curious case of antidoping, where the direction of band movements in response to doping is reversed. Specifically, p-type antidoping moves the previously occupied bands to the principal conduction band resulting in an increase of band gap energy and reduction of electronic conductivity. We find that this is a generic behavior for a class of materials: early transition and rare earth metal (e.g., Ti, Ce) oxidesmore »where the sum of composition-weighed formal oxidation states is positive; such compounds tend to form the well-known electron-trapped intermediate bands localized on the reduced cation orbitals. What is less known is that doping by a hole annihilates a single trapped electron on a cation. The latter thus becomes electronically inequivalent with respect to the normal cation in the undoped lattice, thus representing a symmetry-breaking effect. We give specific theoretical predictions for target compounds where hole antidoping might be observed experimentally: Magnéli-like phases (i.e., CeO2-x and TiO2-x) and ternary compounds (i.e., Ba2Ti6O13 and Ba4Ti12O27), and note that this unique behavior opens the possibility of unconventional control of materials conductivity by doping.« less
  2. ; ; ( , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

    We report results of large-scale ground-state density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) calculations on t-t′-J cylinders with circumferences 6 and 8. We determine a rough phase diagram that appears to approximate the two-dimensional (2D) system. While for many properties, positive and negativet′values (t′/t=±0.2) appear to correspond to electron- and hole-doped cuprate systems, respectively, the behavior of superconductivity itself shows an inconsistency between the model and the materials. Thet′<0(hole-doped) region shows antiferromagnetism limited to very low doping, stripes more generally, and the familiar Fermi surface of the hole-doped cuprates. However, we findt′<0strongly suppresses superconductivity. Thet′>0(electron-doped) regionmore »shows the expected circular Fermi pocket of holes around the(π,π)point and a broad low-doped region of coexisting antiferromagnetism and d-wave pairing with a triplet p component at wavevector(π,π)induced by the antiferromagnetism and d-wave pairing. The pairing for the electron low-doped system witht′>0is strong and unambiguous in the DMRG simulations. At larger doping another broad region with stripes in addition to weaker d-wave pairing and striped p-wave pairing appears. In a small doping region nearx=0.08fort′∼−0.2, we find an unconventional type of stripe involving unpaired holes located predominantly on chains spaced three lattice spacings apart. The undoped two-leg ladder regions in between mimic the short-ranged spin correlations seen in two-leg Heisenberg ladders.

    « less
  3. ; ; ( , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

    In the physics of condensed matter, quantum critical phenomena and unconventional superconductivity are two major themes. In electron-doped cuprates, the low critical field (HC2) allows one to study the putative quantum critical point (QCP) at low temperature and to understand its connection to the long-standing problem of the origin of the high-TCsuperconductivity. Here we present measurements of the low-temperature normal-state thermopower (S) of the electron-doped cuprate superconductor La2−xCexCuO4(LCCO) fromx= 0.11–0.19. We observe quantum criticalS/Tversusln(1/T)behavior over an unexpectedly wide doping rangex= 0.15–0.17 above the QCP (x= 0.14), with a slope that scales monotonicallymore »with the superconducting transition temperature (TCwith H = 0). The presence of quantum criticality over a wide doping range provides a window on the criticality. The thermopower behavior also suggests that the critical fluctuations are linked withTC. Above the superconductivity dome, atx= 0.19, a conventional Fermi-liquidS∝Tbehavior is found forT≤40 K.

    « less
  4. ; ; ; ; ( , Science Advances)
    An understanding of the normal state in the high-temperature superconducting cuprates is crucial to the ultimate understanding of the long-standing problem of the origin of the superconductivity itself. This so-called “strange metal” state is thought to be associated with a quantum critical point (QCP) hidden beneath the superconductivity. In electron-doped cuprates—in contrast to hole-doped cuprates—it is possible to access the normal state at very low temperatures and low magnetic fields to study this putative QCP and to probe the T ➔ 0 K state of these materials. We report measurements of the low-temperature normal-state magnetoresistance (MR) of the n-type cupratemore »system La 2− x Ce x CuO 4 and find that it is characterized by a linear-in-field behavior, which follows a scaling relation with applied field and temperature, for doping ( x ) above the putative QCP ( x = 0.14). The magnitude of the unconventional linear MR decreases as T c decreases and goes to zero at the end of the superconducting dome ( x ~ 0.175) above which a conventional quadratic MR is found. These results show that there is a strong correlation between the quantum critical excitations of the strange metal state and the high- T c superconductivity.« less
  5. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ( , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)
    The recent observation of superconductivity in N d 0.8 S r 0.2 N i O 2 has raised fundamental questions about the hierarchy of the underlying electronic structure. Calculations suggest that this system falls in the Mott–Hubbard regime, rather than the charge-transfer configuration of other nickel oxides and the superconducting cuprates. Here, we use state-of-the-art, locally resolved electron energy-loss spectroscopy to directly probe the Mott–Hubbard character of N d 1 − x S r x N i O 2 . Upon doping, we observe emergent hybridization reminiscent of the Zhang–Rice singlet via the oxygen-projected states, modification of the Nd 5dmore »states, and the systematic evolution of Ni 3d hybridization and filling. These experimental data provide direct evidence for the multiband electronic structure of the superconducting infinite-layer nickelates, particularly via the effects of hole doping on not only the oxygen but also nickel and rare-earth bands.« less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email