NMR shift and relaxation and the electronic spin of superconducting cuprates

Abstract

Very recently, there has been significant progress with establishing a common phenomenology of the superconducting cuprates in terms of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) shift and relaxation. Different from the old interpretation, it was shown that the shifts demand two coupled spin components with different temperature dependencies. One spin component couples isotropically to the planar Cu nucleus and is likely to reside at planar O, while the other, anisotropic component has its origin in the planar copper $3d(x^2-y^2)$ orbital. Nuclear relaxation, on the other hand, was found to be rather ubiquitous and Fermi liquid-like for planar Cu, i.e., it is independent of doping and material, apart from the sudden drop at the superconducting transition temperature, $T_{\rm c}$. However, there is a doping and material dependent anisotropy that is independent on temperature, above and below $T_{\rm c}$. Here we present a slightly different analysis of the shifts that fits all planar Cu shift data. In addition we are able to derive a simple model that explains nuclear relaxation based on these two spin components. In particular, the only outlier so far, \lsco, can be understood, as well. While this concerns predominantly planar Cu, it is argued that the two component model should fit all cuprate shift and relaxation data.