Competition of charge-density waves and superconductivity in sulfur

A one-dimensional charge-density wave (CDW) instability is shown to be responsible for the formation of the incommensurate modulation of the atomic lattice in the high-pressure phase of sulfur. The coexistence of, and competition between, the CDW and the superconducting state leads to the previously observed increase of T{c} up to 17 K, which we attribute to the suppression of the CDW instability, the same phenomenology found in doped layered dichalcogenides.     

Phase diagram of superconductivity and antiferromagnetism in high-Tc hole-doped cuprates

A phase diagram of superconductivity (SC) and antiferromagnetism (AFM) for hole-doped cuprate superconductors in presence of chemical potential (μ) by using a model Hamiltonian is reported here. The Hamiltonian of the system is a mean field one and has been solved by writing equations of motion for the single particle Green functions. The expressions for appropriate single particle correlation function are derived. It is assumed that SC arises due to BCS pairing mechanism and AFM order is simulated by staggered magnetic field in lattices of Cu–O planes. The expressions for SC order parameter, AFM order parameter and dopant concentration are calculated analytically by using Green function technique of D.N. Zubarev. The value of SC gap (z), AFM gap (h) and chemical potential (μ) are solved self consistently for different dopant concentrations (x) by changing model parameters. It is found that a disordered phase appears after antiferromagnetism is destroyed in the range of very small doping. On further increase of the doping, the SC critical temperature first increases, attains a maximum value (?39 K) and then decreases which agrees well with experimental observations for hole-doped cuprates. Our theoretical findings suggest that the AFM coupling plays the vital role of the glue for the Cooper pairs.     

Quantum criticality and the phase diagram of the cuprates

I discuss a proposed phase diagram of the cuprate superconductors as a function of temperature, carrier concentration, and a strong magnetic field perpendicular to the layers. I show how the phase diagram gives a unified interpretation of a number of recent experiments.     

Stripes and superconductivity in cuprates

Holes doped into the CuO₂ planes of cuprate parent compounds frustrate the antiferromagnetic order. The development of spin and charge stripes provides a compromise between the competing magnetic and kinetic energies. Static stripe order has been observed only in certain particular compounds, but there are signatures which suggest that dynamic stripe correlations are common in the cuprates. Though stripe order is bad for superconducting phase coherence, stripes are compatible with strong pairing. Ironically, magnetic-field-induced stripe order appears to enhance the stability of superconducting order within the planes.     

Quasiparticle spectra, charge-density waves, superconductivity, and electron-phonon coupling in 2H-NbSe2

High-resolution photoemission has been used to study the electronic structure of the charge-density wave (CDW) and superconducting dichalcogenide, 2H-NbSe2. From the extracted self-energies, important components of the quasiparticle interactions have been identified. In contrast to previously studied TaSe2, the CDW transition does not affect the electronic properties significantly. The electron-phonon coupling is identified as a dominant contribution to the quasiparticle self-energy and is shown to be very anisotropic (k dependent) and much stronger than in TaSe2.     

Non-BCS superconductivity for underdoped cuprates by spin-vortex attraction

Within a gauge approach to the t-J model, we propose a new, non-BCS mechanism of superconductivity for underdoped cuprates. The gluing force of the superconducting mechanism is an attraction between spin vortices on two different Néel sublattices, centered around the empty sites described in terms of fermionic holons. The spin fluctuations are described by bosonic spinons with a gap generated by the spin vortices. Due to the no-double occupation constraint, there is a gauge attraction between holon and spinon binding them into a physical hole. Through gauge interaction the spin vortex attraction induces the formation of spin-singlet (RVB) spinon pairs with a lowering of the spinon gap. Lowering the temperature, the approach exhibits two crossover temperatures: at the higher crossover a finite density of incoherent holon pairs are formed leading to a reduction of the hole spectral weight, while at the lower crossover a finite density of incoherent spinon RVB pairs are also formed, giving rise to a gas of incoherent preformed hole pairs, and magnetic vortices appear in the plasma phase. Finally, at a even lower temperature the hole pairs become coherent, the magnetic vortices becoming dilute and superconductivity appears. The superconducting mechanism is not of BCS-type since it involves a gain in kinetic energy (for spinons) coming from the spin interactions.     

Evidence for d-wave superconductivity in the repulsive Hubbard model

We perform numerical simulations of the Hubbard model using the projector Quantum Monte Carlo method. A novel approach for finite size scaling is discussed. We obtain evidence in favor of d-wave superconductivity in the repulsive Hubbard model. For U=4, is roughly estimated as K. Received 8 September 1998     

Density functional study of the phase diagram and pressure-induced superconductivity in p: implication for spintronics

The high-pressure phase diagram of P is studied using density functional total energy, linear response lattice dynamics and model Debye-Grüneisen theories. The volume dependent electron-phonon coupling lambda approximately 0.7-0.9 is extracted for the bcc structure and found to increase with increasing volume. We propose that this phase might be realized in epitaxial thin films using templates such as V(100), Fe(100), or Cr(100) relevant to spintronics applications.     

Fundamental constraints for the mechanism of superconductivity in cuprates

Considerable progress has been made over the last decade in understanding the phenomenological properties of the cuprate high-T_c superconductors and in producing well characterized high quality materials. Nevertheless, the pairing mechanism itself remains controversial. We establish a criterion to test theories for layered superconductors relying on a substantial interlayer contribution. The criterion is based on the ratio of the interlayer contribution to the total superfluid density, which is traced back to the inverse squared effective mass anisotropy, . can be measured rather accurately by various experimental techniques. It turns out that models relying on interlayer pairing cannot be considered as serious candidates for the mechanism of superconductivity in cuprate superconductors. Received: 26 November 1998 / Accepted: 30 November 1998     

The phase diagram of charge- and spin-density waves in polymeric C60

\chem{(C_{60})_{\chemindex{x}}} at interfullerene distances larger than . At smaller ball separation, a special charge-density-wave ground state occurs, which exhibits polarized spheres. At around experimental bond distances, both CDW and SDW are present with rather small amplitudes. Received: 13 September 1996/Accepted: 11 November 1996     

The high temperature superconductivity in cuprates: physics of the pseudogap region

We discuss the physics of the high temperature superconductivity in hole doped copperoxide ceramics in the pseudogap region. Starting from an effective reduced Hamiltonianrelevant to the dynamics of holes injected into the copper oxide layers proposed in aprevious paper, we determine the superconductive condensate wavefunction. We show that thelow-lying elementary condensate excitations are analogous to the rotons in superfluid⁴He. We arguethat the rotons-like excitations account for the specific heat anomaly at the criticaltemperature. We discuss and compare with experimental observations the London penetrationlength, the Abrikosov vortices, the upper and lower critical magnetic fields, and thecritical current density. We give arguments to explain the origin of the Fermi arcs andFermi pockets. We investigate the nodal gap in the cuprate superconductors and discussboth the doping and temperature dependence of the nodal gap. We suggest that the nodal gapis responsible for the doping dependence of the so-called nodal Fermi velocity detected inangle resolved photoemission spectroscopy studies. We discuss the thermodynamics of thenodal quasielectron liquid and their role in the low temperature specific heat. We proposethat the ubiquitous presence of charge density wave in hole doped cuprate superconductorsin the pseudogap region originates from instabilities of the nodal quasielectrons drivenby the interaction with the planar CuO₂ lattice. We investigate the doping dependence of thecharge density wave gap and the competition between charge order and superconductivity. Wediscuss the effects of external magnetic fields on the charge density wave gap andelucidate the interplay between charge density wave and Abrikosov vortices. Finally, weexamine the physics underlying quantum oscillations in the pseudogap region.     

Exchange and spin-fluctuation mechanisms of superconductivity in cuprates

A microscopic theory of superconductivity is considered in the framework of the Hubbard p-d model for the CuO₂ plane. The Dyson equation is derived in the nonintersecting diagram approximation using the projection technique for the matrix Green function of the Hubbard operator. The solution of the equation for the superconducting gap shows that interband transitions for Hubbard subbands lead to antiferromagnetic exchange pairing as in the t-J model, while intraband transitions additionally lead to spin-fluctuation pairing of the d-wave type. The calculated dependences of the superconducting transition temperature on the hole concentration and of the gap on the wave vector are in qualitative agreement with experiments.     

Competition between antiferromagnetism and superconductivity in high-Tc cuprates

Using variational cluster perturbation theory we study the competition between d-wave superconductivity (dSC) and antiferromagnetism (AF) in the t-t(')-t(')-U Hubbard model. Large scale computer calculations reproduce the overall ground-state phase diagram of the high-temperature superconductors as well as the one-particle excitation spectra for both hole and electron doping. We identify clear signatures of the Mott gap as well as of AF and of dSC that should be observable in photoemission experiments.