arXiv subjects

W. A. Atkinson

Publications and source records attributed to W. A. Atkinson.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

Emergence of charge order in a staggered loop-current phase of cuprate high-temperature superconductors

We study the emergence of charge ordered phases within a pi-loop current (piLC) model for the pseudogap based on a three-band model for underdoped cuprate superconductors. Loop currents and charge ordering are driven by distinct components of the short-range Coulomb interactions: loop currents result from the repulsion between nearest-neighbor copper and oxygen orbitals, while charge order results from repulsion between neighboring oxygen orbitals. We find that the leading piLC phase has an antiferromagnetic pattern similar to previously discovered staggered flux phases, and that it emerges abruptly at hole dopings p below the van Hove filling. Subsequent charge ordering tendencies in the piLC phase reveal that diagonal d-charge density waves (dCDW) are suppressed by the loop currents while axial order competes more weakly. In some cases we find a wide temperature range below the loop-current transition, over which the susceptibility towards an axial dCDW is large. In these cases, short-range axial charge order may be induced by doping-related disorder. A unique feature of the coexisting dCDW and piLC phases is the emergence of an incommensurate modulation of the loop currents. If the dCDW is biaxial (checkerboard) then the resulting incommensurate current pattern breaks all mirror and time-reversal symmetries, thereby allowing for a polar Kerr effect.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2015

Instability towards Staggered Loop Currents in the Three-Orbital Model for Cuprate Superconductors

We present evidence for the existence of a spontaneous instability towards an orbital loop-current phase in a multiorbital Hubbard model for the CuO$_2$ planes in cuprates. Contrary to the previously proposed $θ_{II}$ phase with intra-unit cell currents, the identified instability is towards a staggered pattern of intertwined current loops. The orbitally resolved current pattern thereby shares its staggered character with the proposal of d-density wave order. The current pattern will cause a Fermi surface reconstruction and the opening of a pseudogap. We argue that the pseudogap phase with time-reversal symmetry breaking currents is susceptible to further phase transitions and therefore offers a route to account for axial incommensurate charge order and a polar Kerr effect in underdoped cuprates.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2015

The Effect of Pointlike Impurities on d_{x^2-y^2} Charge Density Waves in Cuprate Superconductors

Many cuprate superconductors possess an unusual charge-ordered phase that is characterized by an approximate $d_{x^2-y^2}$ intra-unit cell form factor and a finite modulation wavevector $\bq^\ast$. We study the effects impurities on this charge ordered phase via a single-band model in which bond order is the analogue of charge order in the cuprates. Impurities are assumed to be pointlike and are treated within the self-consistent t-matrix approximation (SCTMA). We show that suppression of bond order by impurities occurs through the local disruption of the $d_{x^2-y^2}$ form factor near individual impurities. Unlike $d$-wave superconductors, where the sensitivity of $T_c$ to impurities can be traced to a vanishing average of the $d_{x^2-y^2}$ order parameter over the Fermi surface, the response of bond order to impurities is dictated by a few Fermi surface "hotspots". The bond order transition temperature $T_\mathrm{bo}$ thus follows a different universal dependence on impurity concentration $n_i$ than does the superconducting $T_c$. In particular, $T_\mathrm{bo}$ decreases more rapidly than $T_c$ with increasing $n_i$ when there is a nonzero Fermi surface curvature at the hotspots. Based on experimental evidence that the pseudogap is insensitive to Zn doping, we conclude that a direct connection between charge order and the pseudogap is unlikely. Furthermore, the enhancement of stripe correlations in the La-based cuprates by Zn doping is evidence that this charge order is also distinct from stripes.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2014

Charge Order in the Pseudogap Phase of Cuprate Superconductors

In a multiorbital model of the cuprate high-temperature superconductors soft antiferromagnetic (AF) modes are assumed to reconstruct the Fermi surface to form nodal pockets. The subsequent charge ordering transition leads to a phase with a spatially modulated transfer of charge between neighboring oxygen p_x and p_y orbitals and also weak modulations of the charge density on the copper d_{x^2-y^2} orbitals. As a prime result of the AF Fermi surface reconstruction, the wavevectors of the charge modulations are oriented along the crystalline axes with a periodicity that agrees quantitatively with experiments. This resolves a discrepancy between experiments, which find axial order, and previous theoretical calculations, which find modulation wavevectors along the Brillouin zone (BZ) diagonal. The axial order is stabilized by hopping processes via the Cu4s orbital, which is commonly not included in model analyses of cuprate superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2013

Spatially Modulated Electronic Nematicity in the Three-Band Model of Cuprate Superconductors

Charge order in cuprate superconductors is a possible source of anomalous electronic properties in the underdoped regime. Intra-unit cell charge ordering tendencies point to electronic nematic order involving oxygen orbitals. In this context we investigate charge instabilities in the Emery model and calculate the charge susceptibility within diagrammatic perturbation theory. In this approach, the onset of charge order is signalled by a divergence of the susceptibility. Our calculations reveal three different kinds of order: a commensurate ($q=0$) nematic order, and two incommensurate nematic phases with modulation wavevectors that are either axial or oriented along the Brillouin zone diagonal. We examine the nematic phase diagram as a function of the filling, the interaction parameters, and the band structure. We also present results for the excitation spectrum near the nematic instability, and show that a soft nematic mode emerges from the particle-hole continuum at the transition. The Fermi surface reconstructions that accompany the modulated nematic phases are discussed with respect to their relevance for magneto-oscillation and photoemission measurements. The modulated nematic phases that emerge from the three-band Emery model are compared to those found previously in one-band models.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Robustness of the nodal d-wave spectrum to strongly fluctuating competing order

We resolve an existing controversy between, on the one hand, convincing evidence for the existence of competing order in underdoped cuprates, and, on the other hand, spectroscopic data consistent with a seemingly homogeneous d-wave superconductor in the very same compounds. Specifically, we show how short-range fluctuations of the competing order essentially restore the nodal d-wave spectrum from the qualitatively distinct folded dispersion resulting from homogeneous coexisting phases. The signatures of the fluctuating competing order can be found mainly in a splitting of the antinodal quasi-particles and, depending of the strength of the competing order, also in small induced nodal gaps as found in recent experiments on underdoped La{2-x}SrxCuO4.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2012

Effect of nonlocal interactions on the disorder-induced zero-bias anomaly in the Anderson-Hubbard model

To expand the framework available for interpreting experiments on disordered strongly correlated systems, and in particular to explore further the strong-coupling zero-bias anomaly found in the Anderson-Hubbard model, we ask how this anomaly responds to the addition of nonlocal electron-electron interactions. We use exact diagonalization to calculate the single-particle density of states of the extended Anderson-Hubbard model. We find that for weak nonlocal interactions the form of the zero-bias anomaly is qualitatively unchanged. The energy scale of the anomaly continues to be set by an effective hopping amplitude renormalized by the nonlocal interaction. At larger values of the nonlocal interaction strength, however, hopping ceases to be a relevant energy scale and higher energy features associated with charge correlations dominate the density of states.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Signatures of orbital loop currents in the spatially resolved local density of states

Polarized neutron scattering measurements have suggested that intra-unit cell antiferromagnetism may be associated with the pseudogap phase. Assuming that loop current order is responsible for the observed magnetism, we calculate some signatures of such circulating currents in the local density of states around a single non-magnetic impurity in a coexistence phase with superconductivity. We find a distinct C4 symmetry breaking near the disorder which is also detectable in the resulting quasi-particle interference patterns.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2011

Variational Monte Carlo Study of Anderson Localization in the Hubbard Model

We have studied the effects of interactions on persistent currents in half-filled and quarter-filled Hubbard models with weak and intermediate strength disorder. Calculations are performed using a variational Gutzwiller ansatz that describes short range correlations near the Mott transition. We apply an Aharonov-Bohm magnetic flux, which generates a persistent current that can be related to the Thouless conductance. The magnitude of the current depends on both the strength of the screened disorder potential and the strength of electron-electron correlations, and the Anderson localization length can be extracted from the scaling of the current with system size. At half filling, the persistent current is reduced by strong correlations when the interaction strength is large. Surprisingly, we find that the disorder potential is strongly screened in the large interaction limit, so that the localization length grows with increasing interaction strength even as the magnitude of the current is suppressed. This supports earlier dynamical mean field theory predictions that the elastic scattering rate is suppressed near the Mott transition.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Generalized Inverse Participation Ratio as a Possible Measure of Localization for Interacting Systems

We test the usefulness of a generalized inverse participation ratio (GIPR) as a measure of Anderson localization. The GIPR differs from the usual inverse participation ratio in that it depends on the local density of states rather than on the single-electron wavefunctions. This makes it suitable for application to many-body systems. We benchmark the GIPR by performing a finite-size scaling analysis of a disordered, noninteracting, three-dimensional tight-binding lattice. We find values for the critical disorder and critical exponents that are in agreement with published values.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2010

Analysis of the Disorder-Induced Zero Bias Anomaly in the Anderson-Hubbard Model

Using a combination of numerical and analytical calculations, we study the disorder-induced zero bias anomaly (ZBA) in the density of states of strongly-correlated systems modeled by the two dimensional Anderson-Hubbard model. We find that the ZBA comes from the response of the nonlocal inelastic self-energy to the disorder potential, a result which has implications for theoretical approaches that retain only the local self-energy. Using an approximate analytic form for the self-energy, we derive an expression for the density of states of the two-site Anderson-Hubbard model. Our formalism reproduces the essential features of the ZBA, namely that the width is proportional to the hopping amplitude $t$ and is independent of the interaction strength and disorder potential.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2010

Physical mechanism for a kinetic energy driven zero-bias anomaly in the Anderson-Hubbard model

The combined effects of strong disorder, strong correlations and hopping in the Anderson-Hubbard model have been shown to produce a zero bias anomaly which has an energy scale proportional to the hopping and minimal dependence on interaction strength, disorder strength and doping. Disorder-induced suppression of the density of states for a purely local interaction is inconsistent with both the Efros-Shklovskii Coulomb gap and the Altshuler-Aronov anomaly, and moreover the energy scale of this anomaly is inconsistent with the standard energy scales of both weak and strong coupling pictures. We demonstrate that a density of states anomaly with similar features arises in an ensemble of two-site systems, and we argue that the energy scale t emerges in strongly correlated systems with disorder due to the mixing of lower and upper Hubbard orbitals on neighboring sites.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2010

Temperature dependence of the zero-bias anomaly in the Anderson-Hubbard model: Insights from an ensemble of two-site systems

Motivated by experiments on doped transition metal oxides, this paper considers the interplay of interactions, disorder, kinetic energy and temperature in a simple system. An ensemble of two-site Anderson-Hubbard model systems has already been shown to display a zero-bias anomaly which shares features with that found in the two-dimensional Anderson-Hubbard model. Here the temperature dependence of the density of states of this ensemble is examined. In the atomic limit, there is no zero-bias anomaly at zero temperature, but one develops at small nonzero temperatures. With hopping, small temperatures augment the zero-temperature kinetic-energy-driven zero-bias anomaly, while at larger temperatures the anomaly is filled in.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2010

Effect of Strong Correlations on the Disorder-Induced Zero Bias Anomaly in the Two-Site Anderson-Hubbard Model

Several recent exact diagonalization calculations have established that the Anderson-Hubbard model has a disorder-induced zero bias anomaly (ZBA) (also called a disorder-induced pseudogap) in the density of states. In order to understand the physics of the ZBA, we study a simplified problem---an ensemble of two-site molecules with random site energies---for which analytical results are possible. For this ensemble, we examine how the ZBA forms in both the weakly correlated (mean field) and strongly correlated limits. In the weakly correlated case, the ZBA can be understood as the result of level repulsion between bonding and antibonding molecular orbitals. A similar level repulsion occurs in the strongly correlated case too, but a larger contribution to the ZBA comes from the suppression of a triplet excitation mode. This inherently many-body mechanism does not have a counterpart in mean-field models.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2010

Theory of (001) surface and bulk states in Y$_{1-y}$Ca$_y$Ba$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-δ}$}

A self-consistent model is developed for the surface and bulk states of thin Y_{1-y}Ca_yBa_2Cu_3O_{7-δ} (YCBCO) films. The dispersions of the chain and plane layers are modelled by tight-binding bands, and the electronic structure is then calculated for a finite-thickness film. The dopant atoms are treated within a virtual crystal approximation. Because YCBCO is a polar material, self-consistent treatment of the long range Coulomb interaction leads to a transfer of charge between the film surfaces, and to the formation of surface states. The tight binding band parameters are constrained by the requirement that the calculated band structure of surface states at CuO$_2$-terminated surfaces be in agreement with photoemission experiments. The spectral function and density of states are calculated and compared with experiments. Unlike the case of Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_8, where the surfaces are believed to be representative of the bulk, the densities of states at the YCBCO surfaces are shown to be qualitatively different from the bulk, and are sensitive to doping. The calculated spectral function agrees closely with both bulk-sensitive and surface-sensitive photoemission results, while the calculated density of states for optimally-doped YCBCO agrees closely with tunneling experiments. We find that some density of states features previously ascribed to competing order can be understood as band structure effects.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2009

Real-space variational Gutzwiller wave functions for the Anderson-Hubbard model

Partially-projected Gutzwiller variational wavefunctions are used to describe the ground state of disordered interacting systems of fermions. We compare several different variational ground states with the exact ground state for disordered one-dimensional chains, with the goal of determining a minimal set of variational parameters required to accurately describe the spatially-inhomogeneous charge densities and spin correlations. We find that, for weak and intermediate disorder, it is sufficient to include spatial variations of the charge densities in the product state alone, provided that screening of the disorder potential is accounted for. For strong disorder, this prescription is insufficient and it is necessary to include spatially inhomogeneous variational parameters as well.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2008

Inhomogeneous Magnetic-Field Response of YBa2Cu3Oy and La2-xSrxCuO4 Persisting above the Bulk Superconducting Transition Temperature

We report that in YBa2Cu3Oy and La2-xSrxCuO4 there is a spatially inhomogeneous response to magnetic field for temperatures T extending well above the bulk superconducting transition temperature Tc. An inhomogeneous magnetic response is observed above Tc even in ortho-II YBa2Cu3O6.50, which has highly ordered doping. The degree of the field inhomogeneity above Tc tracks the hole doping dependences of both Tc and the density of the superconducting carriers below Tc, and therefore is apparently coupled to superconductivity.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2008

Effects of Strong Correlations on the Zero Bias Anomaly in the Extended Hubbard Model with Disorder

We study the effect of strong correlations on the zero bias anomaly (ZBA) in disordered interacting systems. We focus on the two-dimensional extended Anderson-Hubbard model, which has both on-site and nearest-neighbor interactions on a square lattice. We use a variation of dynamical mean field theory in which the diagonal self-energy is solved self-consistently at each site on the lattice for each realization of the randomly-distributed disorder potential. Since the ZBA occurs in systems with both strong disorder and strong interactions, we use a simplified atomic-limit approximation for the diagonal inelastic self-energy that becomes exact in the large-disorder limit. The off-diagonal self-energy is treated within the Hartree-Fock approximation. The validity of these approximations is discussed in detail. We find that strong correlations have a significant effect on the ZBA at half filling, and enhance the Coulomb gap when the interaction is finite-ranged.

cond-mat.str-el↗