arXiv subjects

N. -C. Yeh

Publications and source records attributed to N. -C. Yeh.

36 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2007

Competing Orders and Quantum Phase Fluctuations on the Low-Energy Excitations and Pseudogap Phenomena of Cuprate Superconductors

We investigate the low-energy quasiparticle excitation spectra of cuprate superconductors by incorporating both superconductivity (SC) and competing orders (CO) in the bare Green's function and quantum phase fluctuations in the proper self-energy. Our approach provides consistent explanations for various empirical observations, including the excess subgap quasiparticle density of states, ``dichotomy'' in the momentum-dependent quasiparticle coherence and the temperature-dependent gap evolution, and the presence (absence) of the low-energy pseudogap in hole- (electron-) type cuprates depending on the relative scale of the CO and SC energy gaps.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2007

Macroscopic evidence for quantum criticality and field-induced quantum fluctuations in cuprate superconductors

We present macroscopic experimental evidence for field-induced microscopic quantum fluctuations in different hole- and electron-type cuprate superconductors with varying doping levels and numbers of CuO$_2$ layers per unit cell. The significant suppression of the zero-temperature in-plane magnetic irreversibility field relative to the paramagnetic field in all cuprate superconductors suggests strong quantum fluctuations due to the proximity of the cuprates to quantum criticality.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2007

Saturated nucleate pool boiling of oxygen under magnetically-enhanced effective gravity

We investigate the effect of enhancing gravity on saturated nucleate pool boiling of oxygen for effective gravities of 1g, 6.0g, and 16g (g=9.8 m/s^2) at a saturation pressure of 760 torr and for heat fluxes of 10 ~ 3000 W/m^2. The effective gravity on the oxygen is increased by applying a magnetic body force generated by a superconducting solenoid. We measure the heater temperature (expressed as a reduced superheat) as a function of heat flux and fit this data to a piecewise power-law/linear boiling curve. At low heat flux (<400 W/m^2) the superheat is proportional to the cube root of the heat flux. At higher heat fluxes, the superheat is a linear function of the heat flux. To within statistical uncertainties, which are limited by variations among experimental runs, we find no variation of the boiling curve over our applied gravity range.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2006

Investigating the Physical Origin of Unconventional Low-Energy Excitations and Pseudogap Phenomena in Cuprate Superconductors

We investigate the physical origin of unconventional low-energy excitations in cuprate superconductors by considering the effect of coexisting competing orders (CO) and superconductivity (SC) and of quantum fluctuations and other bosonic modes on the low-energy charge excitation spectra. By incorporating both SC and CO in the bare Green's function and quantum phase fluctuations in the self-energy, we can consistently account for various empirical findings in both the hole- and electron-type cuprates, including the excess subgap quasiparticle density of states, ``dichotomy'' in the fluctuation-renormalized quasiparticle spectral density in momentum space, and the occurrence and magnitude of a low-energy pseudogap being dependent on the relative gap strength of CO and SC. Comparing these calculated results with experiments of ours and others, we suggest that there are two energy scales associated with the pseudogap phenomena, with the high-energy pseudogap probably of magnetic origin and the low-energy pseudogap associated with competing orders.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2004

Experimental Investigation of the Competing Orders and Quantum Criticality in Hole- and Electron-Doped Cuprate Superconductors

We investigate the issues of competing orders and quantum criticality in cuprate superconductors via experimental studies of the high-field thermodynamic phase diagrams and the quasiparticle tunneling spectroscopy. Our results suggest substantial field-induced quantum fluctuations in all cuprates investigated, and their correlation with quasiparticle spectra implies that both electron- (n-type) and hole-doped (p-type) cuprate superconductors are in close proximity to a quantum critical point that separates a pure superconducting (SC) phase from a phase consisting of coexisting SC and a competing order. We further suggests that the relevant competing order is likely a spin-density wave (SDW) or a charge density wave (CDW), which can couple to an in-plane Cu-O bond stretching longitudinal optical (LO) phonon mode in the p-type cuprates but not in the n-type cuprates. This cooperative interaction may account for the pseudogap phenomenon above Tc only in the p-type cuprate superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2004

Quasiparticle spectroscopy and high-field phase diagrams of cuprate superconductors -- An investigation of competing orders and quantum criticality

We present scanning tunneling spectroscopic and high-field thermodynamic studies of hole- and electron-doped (p- and n-type) cuprate superconductors. Our experimental results are consistent with the notion that the ground state of cuprates is in proximity to a quantum critical point (QCP) that separates a pure superconducting (SC) phase from a phase comprised of coexisting SC and a competing order, and the competing order is likely a spin-density wave (SDW). The effect of applied magnetic field, tunneling current, and disorder on the revelation of competing orders and on the low-energy excitations of the cuprates is discussed.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2004

Experimental investigation of the asymmetric spectroscopic characteristics of electron- and hole-doped cuprates

Quasiparticle tunneling spectroscopic studies of electron- (n-type) and hole-doped (p-type) cuprates reveal that the pairing symmetry, pseudogap phenomenon and spatial homogeneity of the superconducting order parameter are all non-universal. We compare our studies of p-type YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-x} and n-type infinite-layer Sr_{0.9}Ln_{0.1}CuO_2 (Ln = La, Gd) systems with results from p-type Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_x and n-type one-layer Nd_{1.85}Ce_{0.15}CuO_4 cuprates, and attribute various non-universal behavior to different competing orders in p-type and n-type cuprates.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2004

Dimensionality of superconductivity in the infinite-layer high-temperature cuprate Sr0.9M0.1CuO2 (M = La, Gd)

The high magnetic field phase diagram of the electron-doped infinite layer high-temperature superconducting (high-T_c) compound Sr_{0.9}La_{0.1}CuO_2 was probed by means of penetration depth and magnetization measurements in pulsed fields to 60 T. An anisotropy ratio of 8 was detected for the upper critical fields with H parallel (H_{c2}^{ab}) and perpendicular (H_{c2}^c) to the CuO_2 planes, with H_{c2}^{ab} extrapolating to near the Pauli paramagnetic limit of 160 T. The longer superconducting coherence length than the lattice constant along the c-axis indicates that the orbital degrees of freedom of the pairing wavefunction are three dimensional. By contrast, low-field magnetization and specific heat measurements of Sr_{0.9}Gd_{0.1}CuO_2 indicate a coexistence of bulk s-wave superconductivity with large moment Gd paramagnetism close to the CuO_2 planes, suggesting a strong confinement of the spin degrees of freedom of the Cooper pair to the CuO_2 planes. The region between H_{c2}^{ab} and the irreversibility line in the magnetization, H_{irr}^{ab}, is anomalously large for an electron-doped high-T_c cuprate, suggesting the existence of additional quantum fluctuations perhaps due to a competing spin-density wave order.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2003

Collective modes and quasiparticle interference on the local density of states of cuprate superconductors

The energy, momentum and temperature dependence of the quasiparticle local density of states (LDOS) of a two-dimensional $d_{x^2-y^2}$-wave superconductor with random disorder is investigated using the first-order T-matrix approximation. The results suggest that collective modes such as spin/charge density waves are relevant low-energy excitations of the cuprates that contribute to the observed LDOS modulations in recent scanning tunneling microscopy studies of $\rm Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_x$.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2003

Non-universal pairing symmetry and pseudogap phenomena in hole- and electron-doped cuprate superconductors

Experimental studies of the pairing state of cuprate superconductors reveal asymmetric behaviors of the hole-doped (p-type) and electron-doped (n-type) cuprates. The pairing symmetry, pseudogap phenomenon, low-energy spin excitations and the spatial homogeneity of the superconducting order parameter appear to be non-universal among the cuprates, which may be attributed to competing orders. We propose that the non-universal pseudogap and nano-scale variations in the quasiparticle spectra may be the result of a charge nematic (CN) phase stabilized by disorder in highly two-dimensional (2D) p-type cuprates. The CN phase is accompanied by gapped spin excitations and competes with superconductivity (SC). In contrast, gapless spin excitations may be responsible for the absence of pseudogap and the presence of excess sub-gap spectral weight in the momentum-independent quasiparticle spectra of n-type cuprates. The physical implications and further verifications for these conjectures are discussed.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2002

Recent Advances in High-Temperature Superconductivity

Recent experimental and theoretical developments in high-temperature superconductivity are reviewed, and the empirically asymmetric behavior between hole-doped and electron-doped cuprates is contrasted. A number of phenomena previously considered as essential for the formation of cuprate superconductivity, such as the pairing symmetry, pseudogap phenomenon, gapped incommensurate spin fluctuations and charged stripes, are found to be non-universal, and are likely the consequence of competing orders. It is suggested that the only ubiquitous properties among all cuprates are the strong electronic correlation and antiferromagnetic spin interaction in the CuO2 planes.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2002

Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopic Studies of Cuprate Superconductors

Quasiparticle tunneling spectra of both hole-doped (p-type) and electron-doped (n-type) cuprates are studied using a low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope. The results reveal that neither the pairing symmetry nor the pseudogap phenomenon is universal among all cuprates, and that the response of n-type cuprates to quantum impurities is drastically different from that of the p-type cuprates. The only ubiquitous features among all cuprates appear to be the strong electronic correlation and the nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic Cu^{2+}-Cu^{2+} coupling in the CuO_2 planes.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2002

Spin-polarized quasiparticle transport in cuprate superconductors

The effects of spin-polarized quasiparticle transport in superconducting YBa2Cu3O_{7-δ} (YBCO) epitaxial films are investigated by means of current injection into perovskite ferromagnet-insulator-superconductor (F-I-S) heterostructures. These effects are compared with the injection of simple quasiparticles into control samples of perovskite non-magnetic metal-insulator-superconductor (N-I-S). Systematic studies of the critical current density as a function of the injection current density, temperature and the thickness of the superconductor reveal drastic differences between the F-I-S and N-I-S heterostructures, with strong suppression of the critical currents and a rapidly increasing characteristic transport length near the superconducting transition temperature only in the F-I-S samples. The temperature dependence of the injection efficiency in the F-I-S samples is also in sharp contrast to that in the N-I-S samples. The characteristic times estimated from our studies are suggestive of anisotropic spin relaxation processes, possibly with spin-orbit interaction dominating the c-axis spin transport and exchange interaction prevailing within the CuO2 planes. Several alternative scenarios attempted to account for the suppression of critical currents in F-I-S samples are also critically examined, and are found to be neither compatible with experimental data nor with the established theory of nonequilibrium superconductivity.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2002

Strongly correlated s-wave pairing in the n-type infinite-layer cuprate

Quasiparticle tunneling spectra of the electron-doped (n-type) infinite-layer cuprate Sr_{0.9}La_{0.1}CuO_2 reveal characteristics that counter a number of common phenomena in the hole-doped (p-type) cuprates. The optimally doped Sr_{0.9}La_{0.1}CuO_2 with T_c = 43 K exhibits a momentum-independent superconducting gap Δ= 13.0 +- 1.0 meV that substantially exceeds the BCS value, and the spectral characteristics indicate insignificant quasiparticle damping by spin fluctuations and the absence of pseudogap. The response to quantum impurities in the Cu-sites also differs fundamentally from that of the p-type cuprates with d_{x^2-y^2}-wave pairing symmetry.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2001

Evidence of Doping-Dependent Pairing Symmetry in Cuprate Superconductors

Scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) studies reveal long-range spatial homogeneity and predominantly $d_{x^2-y^2}$-pairing spectral characteristics in under- and optimally doped $\rm YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-δ}$ superconductors, whereas STS on $\rm YBa_2(Cu_{0.9934}Zn_{0.0026}Mg_{0.004})_3O_{6.9}$ exhibits {\it microscopic} spatial modulations and strong scattering near the Zn or Mg impurity sites, together with global suppression of the pairing potential. In contrast, in overdoped $\rm (Y_{0.7}Ca_{0.3})Ba_2Cu_3O_{7-δ}$, $(d_{x^2-y^2}+s)$-pairing symmetry is found, suggesting significant changes in the superconducting ground-state at a critical doping value.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2001

Spectroscopic Evidence for Anisotropic S-Wave Pairing Symmetry in MgB2

Scanning tunneling spectroscopy of superconducting MgB$_2$ ($T_c = 39$ K) were studied on high-density pellets and c-axis oriented films. The sample surfaces were chemically etched to remove surface carbonates and hydroxides, and the data were compared with calculated spectra for all symmetry-allowed pairing channels. The pairing potential ($Δ_k$) is best described by an anisotropic s-wave pairing model, with $Δ_k = Δ_{xy} \sin ^2 θ_k + Δ_z \cos ^2 θ_k$, where $θ_k$ is the angle relative to the crystalline c-axis, $Δ_z \sim 8.0$ meV, and $Δ_{xy} \sim 5.0$ meV.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2001

Spatial homogeneity and doping dependence of quasiparticle tunneling spectra in cuprate superconductors

Scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) studies reveal long-range (~100 nm) spatial homogeneity in optimally and underdoped superconducting YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-δ} (YBCO) single crystals and thin films, and macroscopic spatial modulations in overdoped (Y_{0.7}Ca_{0.3})Ba_2Cu_3O_{7-δ} (Ca-YBCO) epitaxial films. In contrast, STS on an optimally doped YBa_2(Cu_{0.9934}Zn_{0.0026}Mg_{0.004})_3O_{6.9} single crystal exhibits strong spatial modulations and suppression of superconductivity over a microscopic scale near the Zn or Mg impurity sites, and the global pairing potential is also reduced relative to that of optimally doped YBCO, suggesting strong pair-breaking effects of the non-magnetic impurities. The spectral characteristics are consistent with d_{x^2-y^2} pairing symmetry for the optimally and underdoped YBCO, and with (d_{x^2-y^2}+s) for the overdoped Ca-YBCO. The doping-dependent pairing symmetry suggests interesting changes in the superconducting ground state, and is consistent with the presence of nodal quasiparticles for all doping levels. The maximum energy gap Δ_d is non-monotonic with the doping level, while the (2Δ_d/k_BT_c) ratio increases with decreasing doping. The similarities and contrasts between the spectra of YBCO and of Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_{8+x} (Bi-2212) are discussed.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv1998

Infrared Studies of a La_{0.67}Ca_{0.33}MnO_3 Single Crystal: Optical Magnetoconductivity in a Half-Metallic Ferromagnet

The infrared reflectivity of a $\rm La_{0.67}Ca_{0.33}MnO_3$ single crystal is studied over a broad range of temperatures (78-340 K), magnetic fields (0-16 T), and wavenumbers (20-9000 cm$^{-1}$). The optical conductivity gradually changes from a Drude-like behavior to a broad peak feature near 5000 cm$^{-1}$ in the ferromagnetic state below the Curie temperature $T_C=307 K$. Various features of the optical conductivity bear striking resemblance to recent theoretical predictions based on the interplay between the double exchange interaction and the Jahn-Teller electron-phonon coupling. A large optical magnetoconductivity is observed near $T_C$.

cond-mat.str-el↗