arXiv subjects

Christian Bernhard

Publications and source records attributed to Christian Bernhard.

27 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Clocking the Onset of Bilayer Coherence in a High-$\mathrm{T_C}$ Cuprate

In cuprates, a precursor state of superconductivity is speculated to exist above the critical temperature $\mathrm{T_C}$. Here we show via a combination of far-infrared ellipsometry and ultrafast broadband optical spectroscopy that signatures of such a state can be obtained via three independent observables in an underdoped sample of NdBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6+δ}$. The pseudogap correlations were disentangled from the response of laser-broken pairs by clocking their characteristic time-scales. The onset of a superconducting precursor state was found at a temperature $\mathrm{T_{ONS}}$ $>$ $\mathrm{T_C}$, consistent with the temperature scale identified via static optical spectroscopy. Furthermore, the temperature evolution of the coherent vibration of the Ba ion, strongly renormalized by the onset of superconductivity, revealed a pronounced anomaly at the same temperature $\mathrm{T_{ONS}}$. The microscopic nature of such a precursor state is discussed in terms of pre-formed pairs and enhanced bilayer coherence.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2015

Infrared ellipsometry study of the confined electrons in a high-mobility $γ$-Al$_2$O$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ heterostructure

With infrared ellipsometry we studied the response of the confined electrons in a $γ$-Al$_2$O$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ heterostructures in which they originate predominantly from oxygen vacancies. From the analysis of a so-called Berreman mode, that develops near the highest longitudinal optical phonon mode of SrTiO$_3$, we derive the sheet carrier density, ${N_{s}}$, the mobility, $μ$, and also the depth profile of the carrier concentration. Notably, we find that ${N_{s}}$ and the shape of the depth profile are similar as in LaAlO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ heterostructures for which the itinerant carriers are believed to arise from a polar discontinuity. The main differences concern the higher mobility and a relatively stronger confinement of the electrons in $γ$-Al$_2$O$_3$/SrTiO$_3$

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Terahertz ellipsometry study of the soft mode behavior in ultrathin SrTiO3 films

We present a combined study with conventional far-infrared and time-domain terahertz ellipsometry of the temperature dependent optical response of SrTiO3 thin films (85 and 8.5 nm) that are grown by pulsed-laser deposition on LSAT substrates. We demonstrate that terahertz ellipsometry is very sensitive to the optical response of these thin films, in particular, to the soft mode of SrTiO3. We show that for the 85 nm film the eigenfrequency of the soft mode is strongly reduced by annealing at 1200 C, whereas for the 8.5 nm film it is hardy affected. For the latter, after annealing the mode remains at 125 cm-1 at 300 K and exhibits only a weak softening to about 90 cm-1 at 10 K. This suggests that this ultrathin film undergoes hardly any relaxation of the compressive strain due to the LSAT substrate.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Infrared study of the spin reorientation transition and its reversal in the superconducting state in underdoped Ba$ _{1-x} $K$ _{x} $Fe$ _{2} $As$ _{2} $

With infrared spectroscopy we investigated the spin-reorientation transition from an orthorhombic antiferromagnetic (o-AF) to a tetragonal AF (t-AF) phase and the reentrance of the o-AF phase in the superconducting state of underdoped Ba$ _{1-x} $K$ _{x} $Fe$ _{2} $As$ _{2} $. In agreement with the predicted transition from a single-$\mathbf{Q}$ to a double-$\mathbf{Q}$ AF structure, we found that a distinct spin density wave (SDW) develops in the t-AF phase. The pair breaking peak of this SDW acquires much more low-energy spectral weight than the one in the o-AF state which indicates that it competes more strongly with superconductivity. We also observed additional phonon modes in the t-AF phase which likely arise from a Brillouin-zone folding that is induced by the double-$\mathbf{Q}$ magnetic structure with two Fe sublattices exhibiting different magnitudes of the magnetic moment.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2014

Influence of La and Mn vacancies on the electronic and magnetic properties of LaMnO$_{3}$ thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition

With pulsed laser deposition we have grown c-axis oriented thin films of the nominal composition LaMnO$_{3}$ (LMO) on LSAT(001) substrates. We find that, depending on the oxygen background pressure during growth, the LMO films contain sizeable amounts of La and/or Mn vacancies that strongly influence their electronic and magnetic properties. Specifically, we show that the Mn/La ratio can be systematically varied from 0.92 at 0.11 mbar to 1.09 at 0.30 mbar of oxygen. These cationic vacancies lead to markedly different disorder effects that become most pronounced once the samples are fully oxygenated and thus strongly hole doped. All as-grown and thus slightly oxygen deficient LMO films are ferromagnetic insulators with saturation moments in excess of 2.5 μ$_{B}$ per Mn ion, their transport and optical properties that can be understood in terms of trapped ferromagnetic polarons. Upon oxygen annealing, the most La-deficient films develop a metallic response with an even larger ferromagnetic saturation moment of 3.8 μ$_{B}$ per Mn ion. In contrast, in the oxygenated Mn-deficient films the ferromagnetic order is almost completely suppressed to less than 0.5 μ$_{B}$ per Mn ion and the transport remains insulator-like. We compare our results with the ones that were previously obtained on bulk samples and present an interpretation in terms of the much stronger disorder potential of the Mn vacancies as compared to the La vacancies. We also discuss the implications for the growth of LMO thin films with well-defined physical properties that, for example, are a prerequisite for the study of interface effects in multilayers.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2010

Electron spin relaxation in organic semiconductors probed through muSR

Muon spin spectroscopy and in particular the avoided level crossing technique is introduced, with the aim of showing it as a very sensitive local probe for electron spin relaxation in organic semiconductors. Avoided level crossing data on TMS-pentacene at different temperatures are presented, and they are analysed to extract the electron spin relaxation rate, that is shown to increase on increasing the temperature from 0.02 MHz to 0.33 MHz at 3 K and 300 K respectively.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2005

Interpretation of the in-plane infrared response of the high-Tc cuprate superconductors involving spin fluctuations revisited

The in-plane infrared response of the high-Tc cuprate superconductors was studied using the spin-fermion model, where charged quasiparticles of the copper-oxygen planes are coupled to spin fluctuations. First, we analyzed structures of the superconducting-state conductivity reflecting the coupling of the quasiparticles to the resonance mode observed by neutron scattering. The conductivity computed with the input spin susceptibility in the simple form of the mode exhibits two prominent features: an onset of the real part of the conductivity starting around the frequency of the mode omega_{0} and a maximum of a related function W(omega), roughly proportional to the second derivative of the scattering rate, centered approximately at omega=omega_{0}+Delta_{0}/hbar, where Delta_{0} is the maximum value of the superconducting gap. The two structures are well known from earlier studies. Their physical meaning, however, has not been sufficiently elucidated thus far. Our analysis involving quasiparticle spectral functions provides a clear interpretation. Second, we explored the role played by the spin-fluctuation continuum. Third, we investigated the temperature dependence of the conductivity, of the intraband spectral weight, and of the effective kinetic energy. The changes of the latter two quantities below Tc are determined by the formation of the gap, by a feedback effect of the spin fluctuations on the quasiparticles, and by a significant shift of the chemical potential.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2002

Approximate tight-binding sum rule for the superconductivity related change of c-axis kinetic energy in multilayer cuprate superconductors

We present an extension of the c-axis tight-binding sum rule discussed by Chakravarty, Kee, and Abrahams [Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 2366 (1999)] that applies to multilayer high-Tc cuprate superconductors (HTCS) and use it to estimate--from available infrared data--the change below Tc of the c-axis kinetic energy, Hc, in YBa2Cu3O(7-delta) (delta=0.45,0.25,0.07), Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8, and Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10. In all these compounds Hc decreases below Tc and except for Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 the change of Hc is of the same order of magnitude as the condensation energy. This observation supports the hypothesis that in multilayer HTCS superconductivity is considerably amplified by the interlayer tunnelling mechanism.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2001

Correlation between the Josephson coupling energy and the condensation energy in bilayer cuprate superconductors

We review some previous studies concerning the intra-bilayer Josephson plasmons and present new ellipsometric data of the c-axis infrared response of almost optimally doped Bi_{2}Sr_{2}CaCu_{2}O_{8}. The c-axis conductivity of this compound exhibits the same kind of anomalies as that of underdoped YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{7-delta}. We analyze these anomalies in detail and show that they can be explained within a model involving the intra-bilayer Josephson effect and variations of the electric field inside the unit cell. The Josephson coupling energies of different bilayer compounds obtained from the optical data are compared with the condensation energies and it is shown that there is a reasonable agreement between the values of the two quantities. We argue that the Josephson coupling energy, as determined by the frequency of the intra-bilayer Josephson plasmon, represents a reasonable estimate of the change of the effective c-axis kinetic energy upon entering the superconducting state. It is further explained that this is not the case for the estimate based on the use of the simplest ``tight-binding'' sum rule. We discuss possible interpretations of the remarkable agreement between the Josephson coupling energies and the condensation energies. The most plausible interpretation is that the interlayer tunneling of the Cooper pairs provides the dominant contribution to the condensation energy of the bilayer compounds; in other words that the condensation energy of these compounds can be accounted for by the interlayer tunneling theory. We suggest an extension of this theory, which may also explain the high values of T_{c} in the single layer compounds Tl_{2}Ba_{2}CuO_{6} and HgBa_{2}CuO_{4}, and we make several experimentally verifiable predictions.

cond-mat.supr-con↗