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A. J. Millis

Publications and source records attributed to A. J. Millis.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

On the Bilayer Coupling in the Yttrium-Barium Family of High Temperature Superconductors

We derive the expressions needed to interpret experiments relating to interplane magnetic coupling in YBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{6+x}$ and related materials, and use the results to interpret measurements of the optical magnon energy in YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{6.2} and of the NMR ``cross-relaxation" rate in Y_2Ba_{4}Cu_{7}O_{15}. We estimate $J_{\perp}\sim 14$ meV in both materials, and $χ_{max}/μ^2_{B} \sim 100$ {states}/{eV}-Cu in Y_2Ba_4Cu_7O_{15} at T=100K. We show that there is at present no obvious contradiction between the results of a widely-used analysis of NMR experiments and the results of neutron scattering experiments in the Y-Ba system. We argue that the 41 meV excitation observed in superconducting YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{7} is a collective mode pulled down below the superconducting gap by interactions, and that the observed antisymmetry under interchange of planes follows from the non-negligible value of $J_{\perp}$.

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Hall Voltage Fluctuations as a Diagnostic of Internal Magnetic Field Fluctuations in High Temperature Superconductors and the Half-filled Landau Level

Fluctuations of the Hall voltage reveal information about long wavelength magnetic field fluctuations. If gauge theories of strongly correlated electrons are correct, such fluctuations are particularly large in the half-filled Landau level and in high $T_c$ superconductors. We present estimates for the magnitude, system size and frequency dependence of these fluctuations. The frequency dependence contains information about instantons in the gauge field.

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On the Fermi Liquid to Polaron Crossover II: Double Exchange and the Physics of "Colossal" Magnetoresistance

We use the dynamical mean field method to study a model of electrons Jahn-Teller coupled to localized classical oscillators and ferromagnetically coupled to ``core spins'', which, we argue, contains the essential physics of the ``colossal magnetoresistance'' manganites $Re_{1-x} A_x MnO_3$. We determine the different regimes of the model and present results for the temperature and frequency dependence of the conductivity, the electron spectral function and the root mean square lattice parameter fluctuations. We compare our results to data, and give a qualitative discussion of important physics not included in the calculation. Extensive use is made of results from a companion paper titled: ``On the Fermi Liquid to Polaron Crossover I: General Results''.

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Effect of van Hove Singularities on a Spin Liquid

We determine the properties and leading instabilities of a spin liquid with a Fermi surface passing near a van Hove singularity. Our study is motivated by recent photoemission experiments on high $T_c$ cuprates in which it is found that for the optimally doped material the experimental Fermi surface passes near a van Hove singularity, while for underdoped materials, a pseudogap in the electron spectral function is formed in the vicinity of the van Hove point. We show theoretically that proximity to the van Hove singularity suppresses the inelastic scattering due to the gauge field and permits the formation of a d-wave RVB state in which the gap exists only near the van Hove points while finite regions of the Fermi surface remain gapless. This $d$-wave pairing provides a natural explanation of the pseudogap observed in photoemission. We also discuss the relation of the pseudogap observed in the spectral function to the pseudogaps observed in the magnetic susceptibility.

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Cooperative Jahn-Teller Effect and Electron-Phonon Coupling in $La_{1-x}A_xMnO_3$

A classical model for the lattice distortions of $\lax$ is derived and, in a mean field approximation, solved. The model is based on previous work by Kanamori and involves localized Mn d-electrons (which induce tetragonal distortions of the oxygen octahedra surrounding the Mn) and localized holes (which induce breathing distortions). Parameters are determined by fitting to the room temperature structure of $LaMnO_3$. The energy gained by formation of a local lattice distortion is found to be large, most likely $\approx 0.6$ eV per site, implying a strong electorn-phonon coupling and supporting polaronic models of transport in the doped materials. The structural transition is shown to be of the order-disorder type; the rapid x-dependence of the transition temperature is argued to occur because added holes produce a "random" field which misaligns the nearby sites.

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Dynamic Jahn-Teller Effect and Colossal Magnetoresistance in $La_{1-x}A_xMnO_3$

A model for $La_{1-x}Sr_xMnO_3$ which incorporates the physics of dynamic Jahn-Teller and double-exchange effects is presented and solved via a dynamical mean field approximation. In an intermediate coupling regime the interplay of these two effects is found to reproduce the behavior of the resistivity and magnetic transition temperature observed in $La_{1-x} Sr_x MnO_3$.

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On the Bilayer Coupling in the Yttrium-Barium Family of High Temperature Superconductors

We present and solve a model for the susceptibility of two CuO2 planes coupled by an interplane coupling J_perp and use the results to analyze a recent "cross-relaxation" NMR experiment on Y2Ba4Cu7O15. We deduce that in this material the product of J_perp and the maximum value of the in-plane susceptibility chi_max varies from approximately 0.2 at T = 200 K to 0.4 at T = 120 K and that this implies the existence of a temperature dependent in-plane spin correlation length. Using estimates of chi_max from the literature we find 5 meV < J_perp < 20 meV. We discuss the relation of the NMR results to neutron scattering results which have been claimed to imply that in YBa2Cu3O_{6+x} the two planes of a bilayer are perfectly anticorrelated. We also propose that the recently observed 41 meV excitation in YBa2Cu3O7 is an exciton pulled down below the superconducting gap by J_perp.

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Theory of the Spin Gap in High Temperature Superconductors

We analyze pairing in two dimensional spin liquids. We argue that interplane pairing enhanced by magnetic correlations is the most plausible explanation of the spin gap phenomenon observed in underdoped cuprates. The details of the pairing theory depend on the in-plane antiferromagnetic correlations. We consider two models: $2p_F$ correlations induced by a strong gauge field interaction and undamped spin waves. We estimate the pairing temperature $T_s$ and the angular dependence of the gap function and discuss physical consequences.

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The $\bf T=0$ $\bf 2k_F$ density wave phase transition in a two dimensional Fermi liquid is first order

We study $T=0$ spin density wave transitions in two dimensional Fermi liquids in which the ordering wavevector $\bf Q$ is such that the tangents to the Fermi line at the points connected by $\bf Q$ are parallel (e.g. $Q=2p_F$ in a system with a circular Fermi line) and the Fermi line is not flat. We show that the transition is first order if the ordering wave vector $\bf Q$ is not commensurate with a reciprocal lattice vector, $\bf G$, i.e. ${\bf Q} \neq {\bf G}/2$. If $\bf Q$ is close to ${\bf G}/2$ the transition is weakly first order and an intermediate scaling regime exists; in this regime the $2p_F$ susceptibility and observables such as the NMR rates $T_1$ and $T_2$ have scaling forms which we determine.

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Magnetic Properties of High Temperature Superconductors: a Spin Liquid Approach. Talk given at Stanford Spectroscopy Meeting, 1995.

We argue that strongly correlated two dimensional electrons form a spin liquid in some regimes of density and temperature and give the theory of the magnetic properties of this spin liquid using the representation in terms of femions interacting with a gauge field. This state is characterized by anomalous power law spin correlations and discuss the implications of these correlations for the temperature dependence of NMR relaxation rates $1/T_1$ and $1/T_2$ and for the uniform susceptibility. We also discuss the transition from the spin liquid to antiferromagnet and the critical behavior of these properties at the transition. We compare these theoretical results with the data on high $T_c$ superconductors. Finally, we discuss the formation of the spin gap due to the spin exhange interaction between adjacent layers in bilayered materials.

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Spin Gaps in High Temperature Superconductors

The phenomenology and theory of spin gap effects in high temperature superconductors is summarized. It is argued that the spin gap behavior can only be explained by a model of charge 0 spin 1/2 fermions which become paired into singlets and that there are both theoretical and experimental reasons for believing that the pairing is greatly enhanced in the bilayer structure of the $YBa_2Cu_3O_{6+x}$ system. This article will appear in the Proceedings of the Stanford Conference on Spectroscopies in Novel Superconductors. To obtain postscript files containing the figures send mail to millis@physics.att.com.

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On the spin density wave transition in a two dimensional spin liquid

Strongly correlated two dimensional electrons are believed to form a spin liquid in some regimes of density and temperature. As the density is varied, one expects a transition from this spin liquid state to a spin density wave antiferromagnetic state. In this paper we show that it is self-consistent to assume that this transition is second order and, on this assumption, determine the critical behavior of the $2p_F$ susceptibility, the NMR rates $T_1$ and $T_2$ and the uniform susceptibility. We compare our results to data on high $T_c$ materials.

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Double Exchange Alone Does Not Explain the Resistivity of $La_{1-x} Sr_x MnO_3$

The $La_{1-x} Sr_x MnO_3$ system with $0.2 \lesssim x \lesssim 0.4$ has traditionally been modelled with a ``double exchange'' Hamiltonian, in which it is assumed that the only relevant physics is the tendency of carrier hopping to line up neighboring spins. We present a solution of the double exchange model, show it is incompatible with many aspects of the resistivity data, and propose that a strong electron-phonon interaction arising from a Jahn-Teller splitting of the outer Mn d-level plays a crucial role.

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Sliding motion of a two-dimensional Wigner crystal in a strong magnetic field

We study the sliding state of a two-dimensional Wigner crystal in a strong magnetic field and a random impurity potential. Using a high-velocity perturbation theory, we compute the nonlinear conductivity, various correlation functions, and the interference effects arising in combined AC + DC electric effects, including the Shapiro anomaly and the linear response to an AC field. Disorder is found to induce mainly transverse distortions in the sliding state of the lattice. The Hall resistivity retains its classical value. We find that, within the large velocity perturbation theory, free carriers which affect the longitudinal phonon modes of the Wigner crystal do not change the form of the nonlinear conductivity. We compare the present sliding Wigner crystal in a strong magnetic field to the conventional sliding charge-density wave systems. Our result for the nonlinear conductivity agrees well with the $I-V$ characteristics measured in some experiments at low temperatures or large depinning fields, for the insulating phases near filling factor $ν$ = 1/5. We summarize the available experimental data, and point out the differences among them.

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Specific Heat of a Three Dimensional Metal Near a T=0 Magnetic Transition with Dynamic Exponent z=2,3,4

We derive expressions for the universal contribution to the specific heat of a three-dimensional metal near a zero-temperature phase transition with dynamic exponent $z=2,3$, or 4. The results allow a quantitative comparison of theory to data. We illustrate the application of our results by analyzing data for Ce$_{1-x}$Lu$_x$Cu$_2$Si$_2$, which has been claimed to be near a quantum critical point.

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On the Critical Behavior of the Uniform Susceptibility of a Fermi Liquid Near an Antiferromagnetic Transition with Dynamic Exponent $ z = 2$

We compute the leading behavior of the uniform magnetic susceptibility, $χ$, of a Fermi liquid near an antiferromagnetic transition with dynamic exponent $z=2$. Our calculation clarifies the role of triangular ``anomaly'' graphs in the theory and justifies the effective action used in previous work \cite{Hertz}. We find that at the $z=2$ critical point of a two dimensional material, $lim_{q \rightarrow 0} χ(q,0) = χ_0 - D T$ with $χ_0$ and $D$ nonuniversal constants. For reasonable band structures we find that in a weak coupling approximation $D$ is small and positive. Our result suggests that the behavior observed in the quantum critical regime of underdoped high-$T_c$ superconductors are difficult to explain in a $z=2$ theory.

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On the low energy properies of fermions with singular interactions

We calculate the fermion Green function and particle-hole susceptibilities for a degenerate two-dimensional fermion system with a singular gauge interaction. We show that this is a strong coupling problem, with no small parameter other than the fermion spin degeneracy, N. We consider two interactions, one arising in the context of the $t-J$ model and the other in the theory of half-filled Landau level. For the fermion self energy we show in contrast to previous claims that the qualitative behavior found in the leading order of perturbation theory is preserved to all orders in the interaction. The susceptibility $χ_Q$ at a general wavevector $\bf{Q} \neq 2\bf{p_F}$ retains the fermi-liquid form. However the $2p_F$ susceptibility $χ_{2p_F}$ either diverges as $T -> 0$ or remains finite but with nonanalytic wavevector, frequency and temperature dependence. We express our results in the language of recently discussed scaling theories, give the fixed-point action, and show that at this fixed point the fermion-gauge-field interaction is marginal in $d=2$, but irrelevant at low energies in $d \ge 2$.

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