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R. Zeyher

Publications and source records attributed to R. Zeyher.

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Collective excitations in unconventional charge-density wave systems

The excitation spectrum of the t-J model is studied on a square lattice in the large $N$ limit in a doping range where a $d$-$density$-$wave$ (DDW) forms below a transition temperature $T^\star$. Characteristic features of the DDW ground state are circulating currents which fluctuate above and condense into a staggered flux state below $T^\star$ and density fluctuations where the electron and the hole are localized at different sites. General expressions for the density response are given both above and below $T^\star$ and applied to Raman, X-ray, and neutron scattering. Numerical results show that the density response is mainly collective in nature consisting of broad, dispersive structures which transform into well-defined peaks mainly at small momentum transfers. One way to detect these excitations is by inelastic neutron scattering at small momentum transfers where the cross section (typically a few per cents of that for spin scattering) is substantially enhanced, exhibits a strong dependence on the direction of the transferred momentum and a well-pronounced peak somewhat below twice the DDW gap. Scattering from the DDW-induced Bragg peak is found to be weaker by two orders of magnitude compared with the momentum-integrated inelastic part.

cond-mat.str-el

Optical conductivity of unconventional charge density wave systems: Role of vertex corrections

The optical conductivity of a d-CDW conductor is calculated for electrons on a square lattice and a nearest-neighbor charge-charge interaction using the lowest-order conserving approximation. The spectral properties of the Drude-like peak at low frequencies and the broad hump due to transitions across the gap at large frequencies are discussed, also as a function of temperature and of the second-nearest neighbor hopping term t'. We find that vertex corrections enhance the d.c. conductivity, make the Drude peak narrower and provide a smooth transition from a renormalized regime at low to the bare theory at high frequencies. It is also shown that vertex corrections enhance the temperature dependence of the restricted optical sum leading to a non-negligible violation of the sum rule in the d-CDW state.

cond-mat.str-el

Optical conductivity and the sum rule in the DDW state

The density-wave with d-wave order parameter (DDW) is possibly realized in the underdoped regime of high-T_c cuprates. The DDW state is characterized by two branches of low-lying electronic excitations, and the quantum mechanical current has in particular an inter-branch contribution. The latter component causes a finite-frequency response in the optical conductivity and a reduction of the Drude contribution. We show that this redistribution of the spectral weight leaves the optical sum mostly intact, so that the restricted optical sum rule is only weakly violated.

cond-mat.str-el

The Hall conductivity in unconventional charge density wave systems

Charge density waves with unconventional order parameters, for instance, with d-wave symmetry (DDW), may be relevant in the underdoped regime of high-T_c cuprates or other quasi-one or two dimensional metals. A DDW state is characterized by two branches of low-lying electronic excitations. The resulting quantum mechanical current has an inter-branch component which leads to an additional mass term in the expression for the Hall conductivity. This extra mass term is parametrically enhanced near the ``hot spots'' of fermionic dispersion and is non-neglegible as is shown by numerical calculations of the Hall number in the DDW state.

cond-mat.str-el

C-Axis Tunneling Spectra in High-T$_c$ Superconductors in the Presence of a d Charge-Density Wave

The optimally doped and underdoped region of the $t-J$ model at large N (N is the number of spin components) is governed by the competition of d-wave superconductivity (SC) and a d Charge-Density Wave (d-CDW).The partial destruction of the Fermi surface by the d-CDW and the resulting density of states are discussed. Furthermore, c-axis conductances for incoherent and coherent tunneling are calculated, considering both an isotropic and an anisotropic in-plane momentum dependence of the hopping matrix element between the planes. The influence of self-energy effects on the conductances is also considered using a model where the electrons interact with a dispersionless, low-lying branch of bosons. We show that available tunneling spectra from break-junctions are best explained by assuming that they result from incoherent tunneling with a strongly anisotropic hopping matrix element of the form suggested by band structure calculations. The conductance spectra are then characterized by one single peak which evolves continuously from the superconducting to the d-CDW state with decreasing doping. The intrinsic c-axis tunneling spectra are, on the other hand, best explained by coherent tunneling. Calculated spectra show at low temperatures two peaks due to SC and d-CDW. With increasing temperature the BCS-like peak moves to zero voltage and vanishes at T$_c$,exactly as in experiment.Our results thus can explain why break junction and intrinsic tunneling spectra are different from each other. Moreover, they support a scenario of two competing order parameters in the underdoped region of high-T$_c$ superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con

Raman scattering from a superconductivity-induced bound state in $MgB_2$

It is shown that the sharp peak in the $E_{2g}$ Raman spectrum of superconducting $MgB_2$ is due to a bound state caused by the electron-phonon coupling. Our theory explains why this peak appears only in the spectra with $E_{2g}$ symmetry and only in the $σ$ but not $π$ bands. The properties of the bound state and the Raman spectrum are investigated, also in the presence of impurity scattering.

cond-mat.supr-con

Competition between superconductivity and the pseudogap phase in the t-J model

The t-J model in the large N limit (N denotes the number of spin components) yields a pseudogap phase in the underdoped region which is related to a d-wave charge density wave (d-CDW). We present results for the doping dependence of the superconducting and d-CDW order parameters as well as for collective excitations in the presence of these two order parameters. We argue that the electronic Raman spectrum with B$_{1g}$ symmetry probes the amplitude fluctuations of the d-CDW at zero momentum.

cond-mat.supr-con

Influence of collective effects and the d-CDW on electronic Raman scattering in high-T$_c$ superconductors

Electronic Raman scattering in high-T$_c$ superconductors is studied within the t-J model. It is shown that the A$_{1g}$ and B$_{1g}$ spectra are dominated by amplitude fluctuations of the superconducting and the d-wave CDW order parameters, respectively. The B$_{2g}$ spectrum contains no collective effects and its broad peak reflects vaguely the doping dependence of T$_c$, similarly to the pronounced peak in the A$_{1g}$ spectrum. The agreement of our theory with the experiment supports the picture of two different, competing order parameters in the underdoped regime of high-T$_c$ superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con

Low-energy renormalization of the electron dispersion of high-T$_c$ superconductors

High-resolution ARPES studies in cuprates have detected low-energy changes in the dispersion and absorption of quasi-particles at low temperatures, in particular, in the superconducting state. Based on a new 1/N expansion of the t-J-Holstein model, which includes collective antiferromagnetic fluctuations already in leading order, we argue that the observed low-energy structures are mainly caused by phonons and not by spin fluctuations, at least, in the optimal and overdoped regime.

cond-mat.supr-con

Influence of spin fluctuations on the superconducting transition temperature and resistivity in the t-J model at large N

Spin fluctuations enter the calculation of the superconducting transition temperature T$_c$ only in the next-to-leading order (i.e., in O(1/N$^2$) of the 1/N expansion of the t-J model. We have calculated these terms and show that they have only little influence on the value of T$_c$ obtained in the leading order O(1/N) in the optimal and overdoped region, i.e., for dopings larger than the instability towards a flux phase. This result disagrees with recent spin-fluctuation mediated pairing theories. The discrepancies can be traced back to the fact that in our case the coupling between electrons and spins is determined by the t-J model and not adjusted and that the spin susceptibility is rather broad and structureless and not strongly peaked at low energies as in spin-fluctuation models. Relating T$_c$ and transport we show that the effective interactions in the particle-particle and particle-hole channels are not simply related within the 1/N expansion by different Fermi surface averages of the same interactin as in the case of phonons or spin fluctuations. As a result, we find that large values for T$_c$ and rather small scattering rates in the normal state as found in the experiments can easily be reconciled with each other. We also show that correlation effects heavily suppress transport relaxation rates relative to quasiparticle relaxation rates in the case of phonons but not in the case of spin fluctuations.

cond-mat.supr-con

Interplay of superconductivity with structural phases in a generalized t-J model

The phase diagram of the t-J-V model is discussed using a 1/N expansion in terms of X operators. It is shown that a flux phase of d-wave symmetry is stabilized by the Coulomb interaction V at intermediate dopings and competes with d-wave superconductivity. Since the flux wave instability is stronger than the superconducting one optimal doping is essentially determined by the onset of the flux phase. Below optimal doping the flux phase coexists with superconductivity at low and exists as a pseudo gap phase at higher temperatures. It is also found that the flux phase boundary is much less sensitive to impurity scattering than the boundary for superconductivity in agreement with experiments in Zn doped La-214 and (Y,Ca)-123.

cond-mat.supr-con

Impurity Effects on the Flux Phase Quantum Critical Point Scenario

Impurity substitution of Zn in La-214 and (Y,Ca)-123 high-T_c superconductors suppresses T_c but does not affect appreciably the onset of the pseudogap phase in the underdoped region nor optimal doping or the position of the inferred quantum critical point. Based on a 1/N expansion of the t-J model we explain these findings as well as the similar dependence on a magnetic field in terms of a quantum critical point scenario where a flux phase causes the pseudogap.

cond-mat.supr-con

Electronic correlations, electron-phonon interaction, and isotope effect in high-Tc cuprates

Using a large-N expansion we present and solve the linearized equation for the superconducting gap for a generalized t-J model which also contains phonons within a Holstein model. The leading Tc has d-wave symmetry with phonons giving a positive contribution to Tc. The corresponding isotope coefficient is very small at optimal doping and increases towards the classical value 1/2 with increasing dopings similar as in many cuprates.

cond-mat.supr-con

Effective interactions and superconductivity in the t-J model in the large-N limit

The feasibility of a perturbation expansion for Green's functions of the t-J model directly in terms of X-operators is demonstrated using the Baym- Kadanoff functional method. As an application we derive explicit expressions for the kernel of the linearized equation for the superconducting order parameter in leading order of a 1/N expansion. The linearized equation is solved numerically on a square lattice. We find that a reasonably strong instability occurs only for even frequency pairing with d-wavelike symmetry. Results for the transition temperature and the effective interaction are given as a function of doping.

cond-mat.supr-con

Interplay between superconductivity and flux phase in the t-J model

We study the phase diagram of the t-J model using a mean field type approximation within the Baym-Kadanoff perturbation expansion for Hubbard $X$-operators. The line separating the normal state from a d-wave flux or bond-order state starts near optimal doping at T=0 and rises quickly with decreasing doping. The transition temperature $T_c$ for d-wave superconductivity increases monotonically in the overdoped region towards optimal doping. Near optimaldoping a strong competition between the two d-wave order parameters sets in leading to a strong suppression of $T_c$ in the underdoped region. Treating for simplicity the flux phase as commensurate the superconducting and flux phases coexist in the underdoped region below $T_c$, whereas a pure flux phase exists above $T_c$ with a pseudo-gap of d-wave symmetry in the excitation spectrum. We also find that incommensurate charge-density-wave ground states due to Coulomb interactions do not modify strongly the above phase diagram near the superconducting phase, at least, as long as the latter exists at all.

cond-mat.supr-con