No Arabic abstract
The recent discovery of a nonsaturating linear magnetoresistance in several correlated electron systems near a quantum critical point has revealed an interesting interplay between the linear magnetoresistance and the zero-field linear-in-temperature resistivity. These studies suggest a possible role of quantum criticality on the observed linear magnetoresistance. Here, we report our discovery of a nonsaturating, linear magnetoresistance in Mo$_8$Ga$_{41}$, a nearly isotropic strong electron-phonon coupling superconductor with a linear-in-temperature resistivity from the transition temperature to $sim$55 K. The growth of the resistivity in field is comparable to that in temperature, provided that both quantities are measured in the energy unit. Our datasets are remarkably similar to magnetoresistance data of the optimally doped La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$, despite the clearly different crystal and electronic structures, and the apparent absence of quantum critical physics in Mo$_8$Ga$_{41}$. A new empirical scaling formula is developed, which is able to capture the key features of the low-temperature magnetoresistance data of Mo$_8$Ga$_{41}$, as well as the data of La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$.
We study a novel type of coupling between spin and orbital degrees of freedom which appears at triplet superconductor-ferromagnet interfaces. Using a self-consistent spatially-dependent mean-field theory, we show that increasing the angle between the ferromagnetic moment and the triplet vector order parameter enhances or suppresses the p-wave gap close to the interface, according as the gap antinodes are parallel or perpendicular to the boundary, respectively. The associated change in condensation energy establishes an orbitally-dependent preferred orientation for the magnetization. When both gap components are present, as in a chiral superconductor, we observe a first-order transition between different moment orientations as a function of the exchange field strength.
In order to discuss superconductivity in orbital degenerate systems, a microscopic Hamiltonian is introduced. Based on the degenerate model, a strong-coupling theory of superconductivity is developed within the fluctuation exchange (FLEX) approximation where spin and orbital fluctuations, spectra of electron, and superconducting gap function are self-consistently determined. Applying the FLEX approximation to the orbital degenerate model, it is shown that the $d_{x^2-y^2}$-wave superconducting phase is induced by increasing the orbital splitting energy which leads to the development and suppression of the spin and orbital fluctuations, respectively. It is proposed that the orbital splitting energy is a controlling parameter changing from the paramagnetic to the antiferromagnetic phase with the $d_{x^2-y^2}$-wave superconducting phase in between.
The tunneling spectra of the electron-doped cuprate Pr_2-xCe_xCuO4 as a function of doping and temperature is reported. We find that the superconducting gap, delta, shows a BCS-like temperature dependence even for extremely low carrier concentrations (studied here for the first time). Moreover, delta follows the doping dependence of Tc, in strong contrast with tunneling studies of hole-doped cuprates. From our results we conclude that there is a single superconducting energy scale in the electron-doped cuprates.
Anomalous metallic behavior, marked by a saturating finite resistivity much lower than the Drude estimate, has been observed in a wide range of two-dimensional superconductors. Utilizing the electrostatically gated LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface as a versatile platform for superconductor-metal quantum phase transitions, we probe variations in the gate, magnetic field, and temperature to construct a phase diagram crossing from superconductor, anomalous metal, vortex liquid, to Drude metal states, combining longitudinal and Hall resistivity measurements. We find that the anomalous metal phases induced by gating and magnetic field, although differing in symmetry, are connected in the phase diagram and exhibit similar magnetic field response approaching zero temperature. Namely, within a finite regime of the anomalous metal state, the longitudinal resistivity linearly depends on field while the Hall resistivity diminishes, indicating an emergent particle-hole symmetry. The universal behavior highlights the uniqueness of the quantum bosonic metallic state, distinct from bosonic insulators and vortex liquids.
We consider the evolution of d-wave pairing, mediated by nearly critical spin fluctuations, with the coupling strength. We show that the onset temperature for pairing, T*, smoothly evolves between weak and strong coupling, passing through a broad maximum at intermediate coupling. At strong coupling, T* is of order the magnetic exchange energy J. We argue that for all couplings, pairing is confined to the vicinity of the Fermi surface. We also find that thermal spin fluctuations only modestly reduce T*, even at criticality, but they substantially smooth the gap anisotropy. The latter evolves with coupling, being the largest at weak coupling.