SearcharxivSearch

arXiv subjects

O. Simard

Publications and source records attributed to O. Simard.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Displaced Drude peak from $\pi$-ton vertex corrections

Correlated electron systems often show strong bosonic fluctuations, e.g., of antiferromagnetic nature, around a large wave vector such as $\mathbf{q}=(\pi,\pi\ldots)$. These fluctuations can give rise to vertex corrections to the optical conductivity through the (transversal) particle-hole channel, coined $\pi$-ton contributions. Previous numerical results differed qualitatively on how such vertex corrections alter the optical conductivity. Here, we clarify that $\pi$-ton vertex corrections lead to a displaced Drude peak for correlated metals. The proximity and enhancement of the effect when approaching a phase transition of, e.g., antiferromagnetic nature can be utilized for discriminating $\pi$-tons in experiments from other physics leading to a displaced Drude peak.

cond-mat.str-el

Superfluid stiffness in cuprates: Effect of Mott transition and phase competition

Superfluid stiffness $\rho_s$ is a defining characteristic of the superconducting state, allowing phase coherence and supercurrent. It is accessible experimentally through the penetration depth. Coexistence of $d$-wave superconductivity with other phases in underdoped cuprates, such as antiferromagnetism (AF) or charge-density waves (CDW), may drastically alter $\rho_s$. To shed light on this physics, the zero-temperature value of $\rho_s=\rho_{zz}$ along the $c$-axis was computed for different values of Hubbard interaction $U$ and different sets of tight-binding parameters describing the high-temperature superconductors YBCO and NCCO. We used Cellular Dynamical Mean-Field Theory for the one-band Hubbard model with exact diagonalization as impurity solver and state-of-the-art bath parametrization. We conclude that Mott physics plays a dominant role in determining the superfluid stiffness on the hole-doped side of the phase diagram. On the electron-doped side, antiferromagnetism wins over superconductivity near half-filling. But upon approaching optimal electron-doping, homogeneous coexistence between superconductivity and antiferromagnetism causes the superfluid stiffness to drop sharply. Hence, on the electron-doped side, it is competition between antiferromagnetism and $d$-wave superconductivity that plays a dominant role in determining the value of $\rho_{zz}$ near half-filling. At large overdoping, $\rho_{zz}$ behaves in a more BCS-like manner in both the electron- and hole-doped cases. We comment on some qualitative implications of these results for the superconducting transition temperature.

cond-mat.supr-con

Hall effect in cuprates with incommensurate spin-density wave

The presence of incommensurate spiral spin-density waves (SDW) has been proposed to explain the $p$ (hole doping) to $1+p$ jump measured in the Hall number $n_H$ at a doping $p^*$. Here we explore {\it collinear} incommensurate SDW as another possible explanation of this phenomenon, distinct from the incommensurate {\it spiral} SDW proposal. We examine the effect of different SDW strengths and wavevectors and we find that the $n_H\sim p$ behavior is hardly reproduced at low doping. The calculated $n_H$ and Fermi surfaces give characteristic features that should be observed, thus the lack of these features in experiment suggests that the incommensurate collinear SDW is unlikely to be a good candidate to explain the $n_H\sim p$ observed in the pseudogap regime.

cond-mat.str-el

Phenomenological theories of the low-temperature pseudogap: Hall number, specific heat and Seebeck coefficient

Since its experimental discovery, many phenomenological theories successfully reproduced the rapid rise from $p$ to $1+p$ found in the Hall number $n_H$ at the critical doping $p^*$ of the pseudogap in superconducting cuprates. Further comparison with experiments is now needed in order to narrow down candidates. In this paper, we consider three previously successful phenomenological theories in a unified formalism---an antiferromagnetic mean field (AF), a spiral incommensurate antiferromagnetic mean field (sAF), and the Yang-Rice-Zhang (YRZ) theory. We find a rapid rise in the specific heat and a rapid drop in the Seebeck coefficient for increasing doping across the transition in each of those models. The predicted rises and drops are locked, not to~$p^*$, but to the doping where anti-nodal electron pockets, characteristic of each model, appear at the Fermi surface shortly before~$p^*$. While such electron pockets are still to be found in experiments, we discuss how they could provide distinctive signatures for each model. We also show that the range of doping where those electron pockets would be found is strongly affected by the position of the van~Hove singularity.

cond-mat.str-el

Dimensionality and irreversibility of field-induced transitions in SrDy2O4

Low temperature ultrasound velocity measurements are presented on the frustrated spin system SrDy2O4 that allow us to define high resolution phase diagrams with the magnetic field applied along all three principal axes. For H||b, a region of field-induced long range order is delimited by a dome of first-order phase transitions. An unusual magnetization process is observed with significant irreversibility at very low temperatures when passing between the low-field spin liquid phase and the long range ordered phase which we attribute to large energy barriers. For H||c, the system appears to remain effectively one-dimensional, exhibiting two transitions as a function of magnetic field, but no finite-temperature long range order.

cond-mat.str-el