Paramagnons and high-temperature superconductivity in a model family of cuprates

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30918-z

Authors: Lichen Wang (Peking University; Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research) , Guanhong He (Peking University) , Zichen Yang (Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research) , Mirian Garcia-Fernandez (Diamond Light Source) , Abhishek Nag (Diamond Light Source) , Ke-Jin Zhou (Diamond Light Source) , Matteo Minola (Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research) , Matthieu Le Tacon (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) , Yingying Peng (Peking University; Collaborative Innovation Centre of Quantum Matter (Beijing)) , Yuan Li (Peking University; Collaborative Innovation Centre of Quantum Matter (Beijing))
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Nature Communications , VOL 13

State: Published (Approved)
Published: June 2022
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 21725

Abstract: Cuprate superconductors have the highest critical temperatures (Tc) at ambient pressure, yet a consensus on the superconducting mechanism remains to be established. Finding an empirical parameter that limits the highest reachable Tc can provide crucial insight into this outstanding problem. Here, in the first two Ruddlesden-Popper members of the model Hg-family of cuprates, which are chemically nearly identical and have the highest Tc among all cuprate families, we use inelastic photon scattering to reveal that the energy of magnetic fluctuations may play such a role. In particular, we observe the single-paramagnon spectra to be nearly identical between the two compounds, apart from an energy scale difference of ~30% which matches their difference in Tc. The empirical correlation between paramagnon energy and maximal Tc is further found to extend to other cuprate families with relatively high Tc’s, hinting at a fundamental connection between them.

Journal Keywords: Magnetic properties and materials; Superconducting properties and materials

Subject Areas: Materials, Physics


Instruments: I21-Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS)

Added On: 07/06/2022 11:25

Documents:
s41467-022-30918-z.pdf

Discipline Tags:

Superconductors Quantum Materials Physics Hard condensed matter - structures Magnetism Materials Science

Technical Tags:

Scattering Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS)