arXiv subjects

G. Blumberg

Publications and source records attributed to G. Blumberg.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2007

Multi-Gap Superconductivity in MgB2: Magneto-Raman Spectroscopy

Electronic Raman scattering studies on MgB2 single crystals as a function of excitation and polarization have revealed three distinct superconducting features: a clean gap below 37 cm-1 and two coherence peaks at 109 cm-1 and 78 cm-1 which we identify as the superconducting gaps in π- and σ-bands and as the Leggett's collective mode arising from the fluctuation in the relative phase between two superconducting condensates residing on corresponding bands. The temperature and field dependencies of the superconducting features have been established. A phononic Raman scattering study of the E2g boron stretching mode anharmonicity and of superconductivity induced self-energy effects is presented. We show that anharmonic two phonon decay is mainly responsible for the unusually large linewidth of the E2g mode. We observe ~2.5% hardening of the E2g phonon frequency upon cooling into the superconducting state and estimate the electron-phonon coupling strength associated with this renormalization.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2007

Observation of Leggett's collective mode in a multi-band MgB2 superconductor

We report observation of Leggett's collective mode in a multi-band MgB2 superconductor with T_c=39K arising from the fluctuations in the relative phase between two superconducting condensates. The novel mode is observed by Raman spectroscopy at 9.4 meV in the fully symmetric scattering channel. The observed mode frequency is consistent with theoretical considerations based on the first principle computations.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2007

Observation of a 500meV Collective Mode in La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ and Nd$_2$CuO$_4$

Utilizing resonant inelastic x-ray scattering, we report a previously unobserved mode in the excitation spectrum of La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ at 500 meV. The mode is peaked around the ($π$,0) point in reciprocal space and is observed to soften, and broaden, away from this point. Samples with x=0, 0.01, 0.05, and 0.17 were studied. The new mode is found to be rapidly suppressed with increasing Sr content and is absent at $x$=0.17, where it is replaced by a continuum of excitations. The peak is only observed when the incident x-ray polarization is normal to the CuO planes and is also present in Nd$_2$CuO$_4$. We suggest possible explanations for this excitation.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2007

Anharmonicity and self-energy effects of the E2g phonon in MgB2

We present a Raman scattering study of the E2g phonon anharmonicity and of superconductivity induced self-energy effects in MgB2 single crystals. We show that anharmonic two phonon decay is mainly responsible for the unusually large linewidth of the E2g mode. We observe ~ 2.5 % hardening of the E2g phonon frequency upon cooling into the superconducting state and estimate the electron-phonon coupling strength associated with this renormalization.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2006

Field dependence of the magnetic spectrum in anisotropic and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya antiferromagnets: II. Raman spectroscopy

We compare the theoretical predictions of the previous article [L. Benfatto and M. B. Silva Neto, cond-mat/0602419], with Raman spectroscopy experiments in Sr(2)CuO(2)Cl(2) and untwinned La(2)CuO(4) single crystals. We construct the magnetic point group for the magnetically ordered phase of the two compounds, Sr(2)CuO(2)Cl(2) and La(2)CuO(4), and we classify all the Raman active one-magnon excitations according to the irreducible co-representations for the associated magnetic point group. We then measure the evolution of the one-magnon Raman energies and intensities for low and moderate magnetic fields along the three crystallographic directions. In the case of La(2)CuO(4), we demonstrate that from the jump of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya gap at the critical magnetic field H_c ~ 6.6 T for the weak-ferromagnetic transition one can determine the value of the interlayer coupling J_\perp/J ~ 3.2 x 10^-5. We furthermore determine the components of the anisotropic gyromagnetic tensor as g_s^a=2.0, g_s^b=2.08, and the upper bound g_s^c=2.65. For the case of Sr(2)CuO(2)Cl(2), we compare the Raman data obtained in an in-plane magnetic field with previous magnon-gap measurements done by ESR. Using the very low magnon gap estimated by ESR (~ 0.05 meV), the data for the one-magnon Raman energies agree reasonably well with the theoretical predictions for the case of a transverse field (only hardening of the gap).

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2006

Crystal structure and high-field magnetism of La2CuO4

Neutron diffraction was used to determine the crystal structure and magnetic ordering pattern of a La2CuO4 single crystal, with and without applied magnetic field. A previously unreported, subtle monoclinic distortion of the crystal structure away from the orthorhombic space group Bmab was detected. The distortion is also present in lightly Sr-doped crystals. A refinement of the crystal structure shows that the deviation from orthorhombic symmetry is predominantly determined by displacements of the apical oxygen atoms. An in-plane magnetic field is observed to drive a continuous reorientation of the copper spins from the orthorhombic b-axis to the c-axis, directly confirming predictions based on prior magnetoresistance and Raman scattering experiments. A spin-flop transition induced by a c-axis oriented field previously reported for non-stoichiometric La2CuO4 is also observed, but the transition field (11.5 T) is significantly larger than that in the previous work.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2005

Quantum melting of the hole crystal in the spin ladder of Sr14-xCaxCu24O41

The "spin ladder" is a reduced-dimensional analogue of the high temperature superconductors that was predicted to exhibit both superconductivity and an electronic charge density wave or "hole crystal" (HC). Both phenomena have been observed in the doped spin ladder system Sr14-xCaxCu24O41 (SCCO), which at x=0 exhibits a HC which is commensurate at all temperatures. To investigate the effects of discommensuration we used resonant soft x-ray scattering (RSXS) to study SCCO as a function of doped hole density, d. The HC forms only with the commensurate wave vectors L_L = 1/5 and L_L = 1/3 and exhibits a simple temperature scaling T_(1/3) / T_(1/5) = 5/3. For irrational wave vectors the HC "melts", perhaps through the motion of topological defects carrying fractional charge.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2005

Collective Spin and Charge Excitations in (Sr,La)_{14-x}Ca_xCu_{24}O_{41} Quantum Spin Ladders

We study magnetic and electronic properties of two-leg ladder materials. We observed a two-magnon (2M) resonance which we analyze in terms of symmetry, relaxation and resonance properties. Our findings were contrasted to 2M Raman measurements in other magnetic crystals. This comparison made us suggest that the spin-spin correlations in a self-doped two leg ladder may have a modulated component besides the exponential decay characteristic of a spin liquid ground state. We found that the 2M intensity resonates at the Mott gap energy. Interplane Sr substitution for Ca introduces strong disorder leading to inhomogeneous broadening of the 2M resonance. The doped holes in the spin liquid ground state further dilute the magnetic correlations, suppressing the spectral weight of this excitation. At high Ca concentrations are superconducting under pressure and hole pairing was proposed to be a robust feature of doped ladders. The measured dielectric response in the microwave region, the low energy Raman data, the non-linear transport properties along with soft x-ray scattering allowed us to conclude that the ground state for a wide range of Ca concentrations (x < 12) is characterized by charge density wave correlations. This state seems to be driven not by phonons but by Coulomb forces and many-body effects. We highlighted the similarity in the finite frequency Raman response as opposed to the very different behavior of the DC resistivity between undoped and doped ladders. We found that at high Ca concentrations the carrier relaxation is characterized by the same large activation energy (~2000 K) as in the self-doped compound. This observation prompted us to suggest an unconventional metallic transport driven by collective electronic response.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2005

Electronic Properties of α'-NaV_2O_5

We studied electronic excitations in NaV2O5 by Raman. Three main topics are discussed. The first is related to a broad continuum of excitations found in the 200-1500 cm-1 range and peaked around 680 cm-1. The resonant Raman profile of this excitation, the polarization selection rules and the presence of its overtone in resonance conditions allowed us to conclude that the origin of this feature is magnetic. We proposed that it arises as a result of light coupling to multi-spinon Raman excitations. Within this scenario we also argued for a scenario explaining the puzzling temperature dependence of the magnetic continuum in terms of an increasing role of next nearest neighbor frustration and in the context of a strongly fluctuating low temperature phase. The second topic is related to the observation of a folded S = 1 magnetic mode which displayed very clear selection rules as a function of the magnetic field orientation. We proposed that the coupling of the photon field to this excitation takes place via the antisymmetric, Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM), interaction which, in a simple dimer model, can also explain the observed selection rules: no splitting or shifts for magnetic fields parallel to the DM vector and the observation of two (upward and downward) dispersing branches for fields perpendicular to the DM vector. Thirdly, we discuss the nature of several new resonances seen below T_c and focus on the possibilities that they are either folded phonons or singlet bound states of two triplet excitations. In particular we emphasized the existence of two modes at 66 and 105 cm-1, the first one being degenerate with one of the spin gap modes.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2005

Magnetic and Charge Correlations in La{2-x-y}Nd_ySr_xCuO_4: Raman Scattering Study

Two aspects in connection with the magnetic properties of La_{2-x-y}Nd_ySr_xCuO_4 single crystals are discussed. The first is related to long wavelength magnetic excitations in x = 0, 0.01, and 0.03 La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4 detwinned crystals as a function of doping, temperature and magnetic field. Two magnetic modes were observed within the AF region of the phase diagram. The one at lower energies was identified with the spin-wave gap induced by the antisymmetric DM interaction and its anisotropic properties in magnetic field could be well explained using a canonical form of the spin Hamiltonian. A new finding was a magnetic field induced mode whose dynamics allowed us to discover a spin ordered state outside the AF order which was shown to persist in a 9 T field as high as 100 K above the Néel temperature T_N for x = 0.01. For these single magnon excitations we map out the Raman selection rules in magnetic fields and demonstrate that their temperature dependent spectral weight is peaked at the Néel temperature. The second aspect is related to phononic and magnetic Raman scattering in La_{2-x-y}Nd_ySr_xCuO_4 with three doping concentrations: x = 1/8, y = 0; x = 1/8, y = 0.4; and x = 0.01, y = 0. We observed that around 1/8 Sr doping and independent of Nd concentration there exists substantial disorder in the tilt pattern of the CuO_6 octahedra in both the orthorhombic and tetragonal phases which persist down to 10 K and are coupled to bond disorder in the cation layers. The weak magnitude of existing charge/spin modulations in the Nd doped structure did not allow us to detect specific Raman signatures on lattice dynamics or two-magnon scattering around 2200 cm-1.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2005

Evolution of Superconductivity in Electron-Doped Cuprates: Magneto-Raman Spectroscopy

The electron-doped cuprates Pr_{2-x}Ce_xCuO_4 and Nd_{2-x}Ce_xCuO_4 have been studied by electronic Raman spectroscopy across the entire region of the superconducting (SC) phase diagram. The SC pairing strength is found to be consistent with a weak-coupling regime except in the under-doped region where we observe an in-gap collective mode at 4.5 k_{B}T_c while the maximum amplitude of the SC gap is ~8 k_{B}T_{c}. In the normal state, doped carriers divide into coherent quasi-particles (QPs) and carriers that remain incoherent. The coherent QPs mainly reside in the vicinity of (π/2, π/2) regions of the Brillouin zone (BZ). We find that only coherent QPs contribute to the superfluid density in the B_{2g} channel. The persistence of SC coherence peaks in the B_{2g} channel for all dopings implies that superconductivity is mainly governed by interactions between the hole-like coherent QPs in the vicinity of (π/2, π/2) regions of the BZ. We establish that superconductivity in the electron-doped cuprates occurs primarily due to pairing and condensation of hole-like carriers. We have also studied the excitations across the SC gap by Raman spectroscopy as a function of temperature (T) and magnetic field (H) for several different cerium dopings (x). Effective upper critical field lines H*_{c2}(T, x) at which the superfluid stiffness vanishes and H^{2Δ}_{c2}(T, x) at which the SC gap amplitude is suppressed by field have been determined; H^{2Δ}_{c2}(T, x) is larger than H*_{c2}(T, x) for all doping concentrations. The difference between the two quantities suggests the presence of phase fluctuations that increase for x< 0.15. It is found that the magnetic field suppresses the magnitude of the SC gap linearly at surprisingly small fields.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2005

Collective Magnetic Excitations in SrCu_2(BO_3)_2

We study low temperature Raman data on phononic and magnetic excitations in SrCu_2(BO_3)_2. Regarding the former, in the 0 to 350 cm-1 range we find several pairs of quasi-degenerate modes which have different symmetries. Group theoretical analysis suggests that the existence of these modes is related to quite different atomic vibrational pattern, i.e. in-plane and c-axis. Collective magnetic excitations are studied in terms of symmetry, resonance and coupling mechanisms in zero and applied magnetic fields. The analysis of a 4-spin cluster allows us to understand the group symmetries of the zero field Brillouin zone center spin gap branches around 24 cm-1 confirming the picture of local elementary one-triplet modes. By considering an additional intra-dimer DM interaction we are also able to understand the observed selection rules and intensity variations of the spin gap branches in external magnetic fields applied parallel or perpendicular to the dimer planes. We identified two effective magnetic light scattering Hamiltonians responsible for the coupling to the magnetic modes which allowed us to explain their resonance behavior.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2005

Constant effective mass across the phase diagram of high-T$_{c}$ cuprates

We investigate the hole dynamics in two prototypical high temperature superconducting systems: La$_{2-x}$Sr$_{x}$CuO$_{4}$ and YBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}% $O$_{y}$ using a combination of DC transport and infrared spectroscopy. By exploring the effective spectral weight obtained with optics in conjunction with DC Hall results we find that the transition to the Mott insulating state in these systems is of the "vanishing carrier number" type since we observe no substantial enhancement of the mass as one proceeds to undoped phases. Further, the effective mass remains constant across the entire underdoped regime of the phase diagram. We discuss the implications of these results for the understanding of both transport phenomena and pairing mechanism in high-T$_{c}$ systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2005

Symmetry and light coupling to phononic and collective magnetic excitations in SrCu_2(BO_3)_2

We perform a low temperature Raman scattering study of phononic and collective spin excitations in the orthogonal dimers compound SrCu_2(BO_3)_2, focussing on the symmetry and the effects of external fields on the magnetic modes. The zero field symmetry and the behavior in magnetic fields of the elementary and bound magnetic triplet states are experimentally determined. We find that a minimal 4-spin cluster forming the unit cell is able to describe the symmetry as well as the anisotropic dispersions in external fields of the spin gap multiplet branches around 24 cm^{-1}. We identify two Raman coupling mechanisms responsible for the distinct resonance behavior of these magnetic modes and we show that one of these can be ascribed to an effective intra-dimer Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya spin interaction. Our data also suggest a possible explanation for the existence of a strongly bound two-triplet state in the singlet sector which has an energy below the spin gap. The low temperature phononic spectra suggest strong spin-phonon coupling and show intriguing quasi-degeneracy of modes in the context of the present crystal structure determination.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2005

Evolution of Coherence and Superconductivity in Electron-Doped Cuprates

The electron-doped cuprates were studied by electronic Raman spectroscopy across the entire region of the superconducting (SC) phase diagram. We determined that the magnitude of the SC order parameter varies between 4.6 and 3.5 k_BT_c, consistent with weak coupling BCS theory. Using a ``Raman conductivity" sum rule, we found that doped carriers divide into coherent quasi-particles (QPs) and carriers that remain incoherent. The coherent QPs mainly reside in the vicinity of (pi/2a, pi/2a) regions of the Brillouin zone. The carriers doped beyond optimal doping remain incoherent. Only coherent QPs contribute to the superfluid density in the SC state.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2005

Hole crystallization in the spin ladder of Sr14Cu24O41

One of the deepest questions in condensed matter physics concerns what other phases compete with superconductivity in high-transition-temperature (high-Tc) superconductors. One candidate is the "stripe" phase, in which the carriers (holes) condense into rivers of charge separating regions of antiferromagnetism. A related but lesser known system is the "spin ladder", which consists of two coupled chains of magnetic ions forming an array of rungs. A doped ladder can be thought of as a high-Tc material with lower dimensionality, and has been predicted to exhibit both superconductivity and an insulating "hole crystal" phase in which the carriers are localised through many-body interactions. The competition between the two resembles that between static stripes and superconductivity in high-Tc materials. Here we report evidence, from resonant x-ray scattering, for the existence of a hole crystal in the doped spin ladder of Sr14Cu24O41. This phase exists without a detectable distortion in the structural lattice, indicating it arises from many-body effects. Our measurements confirm theoretical predictions and support the picture that proximity to charge ordered states is a general property of superconductivity in copper-oxides.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2004

Magnetic order in lightly doped La_{2-x}Sr_{x}CuO_{4}

We study long wavelength magnetic excitations in lightly doped La_{2-x}Sr_{x}CuO_{4} (x < 0.03) detwinned crystals. The lowest energy magnetic anisotropy induced gap can be understood in terms of the antisymmetric spin interaction inside the antiferromagnetic (AF) phase. The second magnetic resonace, analyzed in terms of in-plane spin anisotropy, shows unconventional behavior within the AF state and led to the discovery of collective spin excitations pertaining to a field induced magnetically ordered state. This state persists in a 9 T field to more than 100 K above the Néel temperature in x = 0.01.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2003

Inhomogeneous CuO_{6} Tilt Distribution and Charge/Spin Correlations in La_{2-x-y}Nd_{y}Sr_{x}CuO$_{4} around commensurate hole concentration

Phononic and magnetic Raman scattering are studied in La$_{2-x-y}$Nd$_{y}$Sr$_{x}$CuO$_{4}$ with three doping concentrations: x ~ 1/8, y = 0; x ~ 1/8, y = 0.4; and x = 0.01, y = 0. We observe strong disorder in the tilt pattern of the CuO_{6} octahedra in both the orthorhombic and tetragonal phases which persist down to 10 K and are coupled to bond disorder in the cation layers around 1/8 doping independent of Nd concentration. The weak magnitude of existing charge/spin modulations in the Nd doped structure does not allow us to detect the specific Raman signatures on lattice dynamics or two-magnon scattering around 2200 cm-1.

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