No Arabic abstract
We explored by electronic Raman scattering the superconducting state of Bi-2212 single crystal by performing a fine tuned doping study. We found three distinct energy scales in A1g, B1g and B2g symmetries which show three distinct doping dependencies. Above p=0.22 the three energies merge, below p=0.12, the A1g scale is no more detectable while the B1g and B2g scales become constant in energy. In between, the A1g and B1g scales increase monotonically with under-doping while the B2g one exhibits a maximum at p=0.16. The three superconducting energy scales appear to be an universal feature of hole-doped cuprates. We propose that the non trivial doping dependence of the three scales originates from Fermi surface topology changes and reveals competing orders inside the superconducting dome.
We present Raman experiments on underdoped and overdoped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O(8+d) (Bi-2212) single crystals. We reveal the pseudogap in the electronic Raman spectra in the B1g and B2g geometries. In these geometries we probe respectively, the antinodal (AN) and nodal (N) regions corresponding to the principal axes and the diagonal of the Brillouin zone. The pseudogap appears in underdoped regime and manifests itself in the B1g spectra by a strong depletion of the low energy electronic continuum as the temperature decreases. We define a temperature T* below which the depletion appears and the pseudogap energy, omegaPG the energy at which the depeletion closes. The pseudogap is also present in the B2g spectra but the depletion opens at higher energy than in the B1g spectra. We observe the creation of new electronic states inside the depletion as we enter the superconducting phase. This leads us to conclude (as proposed by S. Sakai et al.) that the pseudogap has a different structure than the superconducting gap and competes with it. We show that the nodal quasiparticle dynamic is very robust and almost insensitive to the pseudogap phase contrary to the antinodal quasiparticle dynamic. We finally reveal, in contrast to what it is usually admitted,an increase of the nodal quasiparticle spectral weight with underdoping. We interpret this result as the consequence of a possible Fermi surface disturbances in the doping range p=0.1-0.2.
Electronic Raman scattering with in and out of (ab) plane polarizations have been performed on HgBa2Ca2Cu3O8+d in a slightly underdoped single crystal with a critical temperature Tc=122 K. We find that the d-wave pairing gap at the antinodes is higher in energy (14 kBTc) than in other cuprates and that it varies very slowly up to Tc. This hints at a strong coupling nature of the pairing mechanism. Interestingly, we reveal that the pairing-gap feature in the Raman response displays a complex peak-dip-hump structure, in a fashion reminiscent of what observed by angle resolved photo-emission spectroscopy in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d (Bi-2212). We detect two other distinct superconducting peaks at 5kBTc and 7kBTc when probing respectively around the nodes and on the whole Fermi surface. Finally we establish that the pairing gap at the antinodes is detected both for (ab) plane and for c-axis light polarizations. This shows that the quasiparticle dynamics along the c-axis is intimately connected to the antinodal one in the (ab) plane.
We have studied the momentum dependence of the energy gap of Bi2(Sr,R)2CuOy by angleresolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), particularly focusing on the difference between R=La and Eu. By comparing the gap function and characteristic temperatures between the two sets of samples, we show that there exist three distinct energy scales, {Delta}pg, {Delta}sc0, and {Delta}eff sc0, which correspond to T* (pseudogap temperature), Tonset (onset temperature of fluctuating superconductivity), and Tc (critical temperature of coherent superconductivity). The results not only support the existence of a pseudogap state below T* that competes with superconductivity but also the duality of competition and superconducting fluctuation at momenta around the antinode below Tonset.
While the low frequency electronic Raman response in the superconducting state of the cuprates can be largely understood in terms of a d-wave energy gap, a long standing problem has been an explanation for the spectra observed in A_{1g} polarization orientations. We present calculations which suggest that the peak position of the observed A_{1g} spectra is due to a collective spin fluctuation mode.
Measurements of spin excitations are essential for an understanding of spin-mediated pairing for superconductivity; and resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) provides a considerable opportunity to probe high-energy spin excitations. However, whether RIXS correctly measures the collective spin excitations of doped superconducting cuprates remains under debate. Here we demonstrate distinct Raman- and fluorescence-like RIXS excitations of Bi$_{1.5}$Pb$_{0.6}$Sr$_{1.54}$CaCu$_{2}$O$_{8+{delta}}$ in the mid-infrared energy region. Combining photon-energy and momentum dependent RIXS measurements with theoretical calculations using exact diagonalization provides conclusive evidence that the Raman-like RIXS excitations correspond to collective spin excitations, which are magnons in the undoped Mott insulators and evolve into paramagnons in doped superconducting compounds. In contrast, the fluorescence-like shifts are due primarily to the continuum of particle-hole excitations in the charge channel. Our results show that under the proper experimental conditions RIXS indeed can be used to probe paramagnons in doped high-$T_c$ cuprate superconductors.