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1. Doping asymmetry in the three-band Hamiltonian for cuprate ladders: Failure of the standard model of superconductivity in cuprates

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.107.L241108  

   Song, Jeong-Pil; Mazumdar, Sumit; Clay, R. Torsten (June 2023, Physical Review B)

   Stephen E. Nagler (Ed.)

   The relevance of the single-band two-dimensional Hubbard model to superconductivity in the doped cuprates has recently been questioned, based on density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) computations that found superconductivity over an unrealistically broad doping region upon electron-doping, yet a complete absence of superconductivity for hole-doping. We report very similar results from DMRG calculations on a Cu2O3 twoleg ladder within the parent three-band correlated-electron Hamiltonian. The strong asymmetry found in our calculations are in contradiction to the deep and profound symmetry in the experimental phase diagrams of electron- and hole-doped cuprate superconductors, as seen from the occurrence of quantum critical points within the superconducting domes in both cases that are characterized by Fermi surface reconstruction, large jumps in carrier density, and strange metal behavior. 

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2. Tuning from failed superconductor to failed insulator with magnetic field

   https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aav7686  

   Li, Yangmu; Terzic, J.; Baity, P. G.; Popović, Dragana; Gu, G. D.; Li, Qiang; Tsvelik, A. M.; Tranquada, J. M. (June 2019, Science Advances)

   Do charge modulations compete with electron pairing in high-temperature copper oxide superconductors? We investigated this question by suppressing superconductivity in a stripe-ordered cuprate compound at low temperature with high magnetic fields. With increasing field, loss of three-dimensional superconducting order is followed by reentrant two-dimensional superconductivity and then an ultraquantum metal phase. Circumstantial evidence suggests that the latter state is bosonic and associated with the charge stripes. These results provide experimental support to the theoretical perspective that local segregation of doped holes and antiferromagnetic spin correlations underlies the electron-pairing mechanism in cuprates. 

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3. Ground-state and spectral properties of the doped one-dimensional optical Hubbard-Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.107.235113  

   Banerjee, Debshikha; Thomas, Jinu; Nocera, Alberto; Johnston, Steven (June 2023, Physical Review B)

   We present a density matrix renormalization group study of the doped one-dimensional (1D) Hubbard-Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (Hubbard-SSH) model, where the atomic displacements linearly modulate the nearest-neighbor hopping integrals. Focusing on an optical variant of the model in the strongly correlated limit relevant for cuprate spin chains, we examine how the SSH interaction modifies the model's ground- and excited-state properties. The SSH coupling weakly renormalizes the model's single- and two-particle response functions for electron-phonon (𝑒−ph) coupling strengths below a parameter-dependent critical value 𝑔c. For larger 𝑒−ph coupling, the sign of the effective hopping integrals changes for a subset of orbitals, which drives a lattice dimerization distinct from the standard nesting-driven picture in 1D. The spectral weight of the one- and two-particle dynamical response functions are dramatically rearranged across this transition, with significant changes in the ground-state correlations. We argue that this dimerization results from the breakdown of the linear approximation for the 𝑒−ph coupling and thus signals a fundamental limitation of the linear SSH interaction. Our results have consequences for our understanding of how SSH-like interactions can enter the physics of strongly correlated quantum materials, including the recently synthesized doped cuprate spin chains. 

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4. Emergence of quasiparticles in a doped Mott insulator

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-020-00480-5  

   Wang, Yao; He, Yu; Wohlfeld, Krzysztof; Hashimoto, Makoto; Huang, Edwin W; Lu, Donghui; Mo, Sung-Kwan; Komiya, Seiki; Jia, Chunjing; Moritz, Brian; et al (December 2020, Communications Physics)

   Abstract How a Mott insulator develops into a weakly coupled metal upon doping is a central question to understanding various emergent correlated phenomena. To analyze this evolution and its connection to the high-T_ccuprates, we study the single-particle spectrum for the doped Hubbard model using cluster perturbation theory on superclusters. Starting from extremely low doping, we identify a heavily renormalized quasiparticle dispersion that immediately develops across the Fermi level, and a weakening polaronic side band at higher binding energy. The quasiparticle spectral weight roughly grows at twice the rate of doping in the low doping regime, but this rate is halved at optimal doping. In the heavily doped regime, we find both strong electron-hole asymmetry and a persistent presence of Mott spectral features. Finally, we discuss the applicability of the single-band Hubbard model to describe the evolution of nodal spectra measured by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) on the single-layer cuprate La_2−xSr_xCuO₄(0 ≤x≤ 0.15). This work benchmarks the predictive power of the Hubbard model for electronic properties of high-T_ccuprates. 

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5. Valence transition theory of the pressure-induced dimensionality crossover in superconducting ${\mathrm{Sr}}_{14-x}{\mathrm{Ca}}_x{\mathrm{Cu}}_{24}{\mathrm{O}}_{41}$

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.108.134510  

   Song, Jeong-Pil; Clay, R. Torsten; Mazumdar, Sumit (October 2023, Physical Review B)

   Stephen E. Nagler (Ed.)

   One of the strongest justifications for the continued search for superconductivity within the single-band Hubbard Hamiltonian originates from the apparent success of single-band ladder-based theories in predicting the occurrence of superconductivity in the cuprate coupled-ladder compound Sr{14−x}Ca{x}Cu{24}O{41}. Recent theoretical works have, however, shown the complete absence of quasi-long-range superconducting correlations within the hole-doped multiband ladder Hamiltonian including realistic Coulomb repulsion between holes on oxygen sites and oxygen-oxygen hole hopping. Experimentally, superconductivity in Sr{14−x}Ca{x}Cu{24}O{41} occurs only under pressure and is preceded by dramatic transition from one to two dimensions that remains not understood. We show that understanding the dimensional crossover requires adopting a valence transition model within which there occurs transition in Cu-ion ionicity from +2 to +1 , with transfer of holes from Cu to O ions [S. Mazumdar, Phys. Rev. B 98, 205153 (2018)]. The driving force behind the valence transition is the closed-shell electron configuration of Cu^{1+} , a feature shared by cations of all oxides with a negative charge-transfer gap. We make a falsifiable experimental prediction for Sr{14−x}Ca{x}Cu{24}O{41} and discuss the implications of our results for layered two-dimensional cuprates. 

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