Nonmonotonic pseudogap in high-T-c cuprates

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • A. A. Kordyuk - , National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Author)
  • S. V. Borisenko - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • V. B. Zabolotnyy - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • R. Schuster - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • D. S. Inosov - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • D. V. Evtushinsky - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • A. I. Plyushchay - , National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Author)
  • R. Follath - , Helmholtz Centre Berlin for Materials and Energy (Author)
  • A. Varykhalov - , Helmholtz Centre Berlin for Materials and Energy (Author)
  • L. Patthey - , Paul Scherrer Institute (Author)
  • H. Berger - , Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) (Author)

Abstract

The mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity has not been resolved for so long because the normal state of cuprates, which exhibits enigmatic pseudogap phenomena, is not yet understood. We performed careful temperature- and momentum-resolved photoemission experiments to show that the depletion of the spectral weight in slightly underdoped cuprate superconductor, usually called the "pseudogap," exhibits an unexpected nonmonotonic temperature dependence: decreases linearly approaching T-* at which it reveals a sharp transition but does not vanish and starts to increase gradually again at higher temperature. The low-temperature behavior of the pseudogap is remarkably similar to one of the incommensurate charge ordering gap in the transition-metal dichalcogenides, while the reopening of the gap at room temperature fits the scenario of temperature-driven metal-insulator transition. This observation suggests that two phenomena, the electronic instability to density-wave formation and the entropy-driven metal-to-insulator crossover, may coexist in the normal state of cuprates.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number020504
Number of pages4
JournalPhysical Review B
Volume79
Issue number2
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2009
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes

External IDs

Scopus 59249091688

Keywords

Keywords

  • bismuth compounds, calcium compounds, entropy, high-temperature superconductors, lead compounds, metal-insulator transition, phase diagrams, photoelectron spectra, strontium compounds, superconducting energy gap, terbium compounds, STATE

Library keywords