No Arabic abstract
We report optical measurements demonstrating that the low-energy relaxation rate ($1/tau$) of the conduction electrons in Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ obeys scaling relations for its frequency ($omega$) and temperature ($T$) dependence in accordance with Fermi-liquid theory. In the thermal relaxation regime, $1/taupropto (hbaromega)^2 + (ppikB T)^2$ with $p=2$, and $omega/T$ scaling applies. Many-body electronic structure calculations using dynamical mean-field theory confirm the low-energy Fermi-liquid scaling, and provide quantitative understanding of the deviations from Fermi-liquid behavior at higher energy and temperature. The excess optical spectral weight in this regime provides evidence for strongly dispersing resilient quasiparticle excitations above the Fermi energy.
We present a comprehensive angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy study of Ca$_{1.8}$Sr$_{0.2}$RuO$_4$. Four distinct bands are revealed and along the Ru-O bond direction their orbital characters are identified through a light polarization analysis and comparison to dynamical mean-field theory calculations. Bands assigned to $d_{xz}, d_{yz}$ orbitals display Fermi liquid behavior with fourfold quasiparticle mass renormalization. Extremely heavy fermions - associated with a predominantly $d_{xy}$ band character - are shown to display non-Fermi-liquid behavior. We thus demonstrate that Ca$_{1.8}$Sr$_{0.2}$RuO$_4$ is a hybrid metal with an orbitally selective Fermi liquid quasiparticle breakdown.
The strange metal is an enigmatic phase whose properties are irreconcilable with the established Fermi liquid theory of conductors. A fundamental question is whether a strange metal and a Fermi liquid are distinct phases of matter, or whether a material can be intermediate between or in a superposition of the two. We studied the collective density response of the correlated metal Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ by momentum-resolved electron energy-loss spectroscopy (M-EELS). We discovered that a broad continuum of non-propagating charge fluctuations (a characteristic of strange metals) and also a dispersing Fermi liquid-like collective mode at low energies and long wavelengths coexist in the same material at the same temperature. These features exhibit a spectral weight redistribution and velocity renormalization when we cool the material through the quasiparticle coherence temperature. Our results show not only that strange metal and Fermi liquid phenomena can coexist but also that Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ serves as an ideal test case for studying the interaction between the two.
We report a polarization-resolved Raman spectroscopy study of the orbital dependence of the quasiparticles properties in the prototypical multi-band Fermi liquid Srtextsubscript{2}RuOtextsubscript{4}. We show that the quasiparticle scattering rate displays $omega^{2}$ dependence as expected for a Fermi liquid. Besides, we observe a clear polarization-dependence in the energy and temperature dependence of the quasiparticle scattering rate and mass, with the $d_{xz/yz}$ orbital derived quasiparticles showing significantly more robust Fermi liquid properties than the $d_{xy}$ orbital derived ones. The observed orbital dichotomy of the quasiparticles is consistent with the picture of Srtextsubscript{2}RuOtextsubscript{4} as a Hunds metal. Our study establishes Raman scattering as a powerful probe of Fermi liquid properties in correlated metals.
Nodal angle resolved photoemission spectra taken on overdoped La$_{1.77}$Sr$_{0.23}$CuO$_4$ are presented and analyzed. It is proven that the low-energy excitations are true Landau Fermi-liquid quasiparticles. We show that momentum and energy distribution curves can be analyzed self-consistently without quantitative knowledge of the bare band dispersion. Finally, by imposing Kramers-Kronig consistency on the self-energy $Sigma$, insight into the quasiparticle residue is gained. We conclude by comparing our results to quasiparticle properties extracted from thermodynamic, magneto-resistance, and high-field quantum oscillation experiments on overdoped Tl$_2$Ba$_2$CuO$_{6+delta}$.
We study the magnetic susceptibility in the normal state of Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ using dynamical mean-field theory including dynamical vertex corrections. Besides the well known incommensurate response, our calculations yield quasi-local spin fluctuations which are broad in momentum and centered around the $Gamma$ point, in agreement with recent inelastic neutron scattering experiments [P. Steffens, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 047004 (2019)]. We show that these quasi-local fluctuations are controlled by the Hunds coupling and account for the dominant contribution to the momentum-integrated response. While all orbitals contribute equally to the incommensurate response, the enhanced $Gamma$ point response originates from the planar xy orbital.