No Arabic abstract
We study how superconducting Tc is affected as an electronic system in a tetragonal environment is tuned to a nematic quantum critical point (QCP). Including coupling of the electronic nematic variable to the relevant lattice strain restricts criticality only to certain high symmetry directions. This allows a weak-coupling treatment, even at the QCP. We develop a criterion distinguishing weak and strong Tc enhancements upon approaching the QCP. We show that negligible Tc enhancement occurs only if pairing is dominated by a non-nematic interaction away from the QCP, and simultaneously if the electron-strain coupling is sufficiently strong. We argue this is the case of the iron superconductors.
We report the evolution of nematic fluctuations in FeSe$_{1-x}$S$_x$ single crystals as a function of Sulfur content $x$ across the nematic quantum critical point (QCP) $x_csim$ 0.17 via Raman scattering. The Raman spectra in the $B_{1g}$ nematic channel consist of two components, but only the low energy one displays clear fingerprints of critical behavior and is attributed to itinerant carriers. Curie-Weiss analysis of the associated nematic susceptibility indicates a substantial effect of nemato-elastic coupling which shifts the location of the nematic QCP. We argue that this lattice-induced shift likely explains the absence of any enhancement of the superconducting transition temperature at the QCP. The presence of two components in the nematic fluctuations spectrum is attributed to the dual aspect of electronic degrees of freedom in Hunds metals, with both itinerant carriers and local moments contributing to the nematic susceptibility.
Superconductivity is a quantum phenomenon caused by bound pairs of electrons. In diverse families of strongly correlated electron systems, the electron pairs are not bound together by phonon exchange but instead by some other kind of bosonic fluctuations. In these systems, superconductivity is often found near a magnetic quantum critical point (QCP) where a magnetic phase vanishes in the zero-temperature limit. Moreover, the maximum of superconducting transition temperature Tc frequently locates near the magnetic QCP, suggesting that the proliferation of critical spin fluctuations emanating from the QCP plays an important role in Cooper pairing. In cuprate superconductors, however, the superconducting dome is usually separated from the antiferromagnetic phase and Tc attains its maximum value near the verge of enigmatic pseudogap state that appears below doping-dependent temperature T*. Thus a clue to the pairing mechanism resides in the pseudogap and associated anomalous transport properties. Recent experiments suggested a phase transition at T*, yet, most importantly, relevant fluctuations associated with the pseudogap have not been identified. Here we report on direct observations of enhanced nematic fluctuations in (Bi,Pb)2Sr2CaCu2O8+d by elastoresistance measurements, which couple to twofold in-plane electronic anisotropy, i.e. electronic nematicity. The nematic susceptibility shows Curie-Weiss-like temperature dependence above T*, and an anomaly at T* evidences a second-order transition with broken rotational symmetry. Near the pseudogap end point, where Tc is not far from its peak in the superconducting dome, nematic susceptibility becomes singular and divergent, indicating the presence of a nematic QCP. This signifies quantum critical fluctuations of a nematic order, which has emerging links to the high-Tc superconductivity and strange metallic behaviours in cuprates.
We address the issue of how triplet superconductivity emerges in an electronic system near a ferromagnetic quantum critical point (FQCP). Previous studies found that the superconducting transition is of second order, and Tc is strongly reduced near the FQCP due to pair-breaking effects from thermal spin fluctuations. In contrast, we demonstrate that near the FQCP, the system avoids pair-breaking effects by undergoing a first order transition at a much larger Tc. A second order superconducting transition emerges only at some distance from the FQCP.
The Fulde-Ferrel-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) state near the antiferromagnetic quantum critical point (AFQCP) is investigated by analyzing the two dimensional Hubbard model on the basis of the fluctuation exchange (FLEX) approximation. The phase diagram against the magnetic field and temperature is compared with that obtained in the BCS theory. We discuss the influences of the antiferromagnetic spin fluctuation through the quasiparticle scattering, retardation effect, parity mixing and internal magnetic field. It is shown that the FFLO state is stable in the vicinity of AFQCP even though the quasiparticle scattering due to the spin fluctuation is destructive to the FFLO state. The large positive slope dH_{FFLO}/dT and the convex curvature (d^{2}H_{FFLO}/dT^{2} > 0) are obtained, where H_{FFLO} is the critical magnetic field for the second order phase transition from the uniform BCS state to the FFLO state. These results are consistent with the experimental results in CeCoIn_5. The possible magnetic transition in the FFLO state is examined.
75As-zero-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) measurements are performed on CaFe2As2 under pressure. At P = 4.7 and 10.8 kbar, the temperature dependences of nuclear-spin-lattice relaxation rate (1/T1) measured in the tetragonal phase show no coherence peak just below Tc(P) and decrease with decreasing temperature. The superconductivity is gapless at P = 4.7 kbar but evolves to that with multiple gaps at P = 10.8 kbar. We find that the superconductivity appears near a quantum critical point under pressures in the range 4.7 kbar < P < 10.8 kbar. Both electron correlation and superconductivity disappear in the collapsed tetragonal phase. A systematic study under pressure indicates that electron correlations play a vital role in forming Cooper pairs in this compound.