Evolution of the cyclotron mass with doping in La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$

Abstract

The recent observation of cyclotron resonance in optimally-doped La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ using time-domain THz spectroscopy in high magnetic field has given new possibilities for the study of cuprate superconductors. One can measure the cyclotron mass in more disordered cuprates possesing short scattering times therefore expanding the study to materials and dopings in which quantum oscillations have not been observed. Here we present the measurement of the carrier mass of the hole doped cuprate La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ across a a range of dopings spanning the slightly underdoped ($x=0.13$) to highly overdoped ($x=0.26$), near to the termination of the superconducting dome. These results reveal a systematic increase of $m_c$ with doping, up to values greater than thirteen times the bare electron mass. This is in contrast with those masses extracted from the heat capacity, which show a peak near the pseudogap critical point $p^*$ and/or Lifshitz transition. The cyclotron frequency is linear in field up to 31 T for all dopings giving no evidence for field induced Fermi surface reconstructions. The cyclotron mass is found to be positive for all dopings, but with a magnitude systematically below the heat capacity mass for under and optimally doped samples, while exceeding it for overdoped samples. Among other aspects, these results are surprising as photoemission reveals a Lifshitz transition in the middle of our doping range and the sign of the cyclotron mass determined from a finite frequency resonance is -- in conventional theories -- a {\it topological quantity} only sensitive to whether or not the Fermi surface is closed around holes or electrons. We see no sign of a divergence of the mass near $p^*$ nor near the Lifshitz transition, showing that any singularity -- if it exists -- is not strong enough to affect the cyclotron mass.