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Register a new userNew low-temperature phases in NaxCoO2 linked to quantum criticality
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Added by
Francisco Rivadulla Fernandez
Publication date
2005
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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New electronic phases have been identified and placed in the (T,H) phase diagram of metallic NaxCoO2. At low Na-content (x = 0.36), the magnetic susceptibility diverges with a power law T^(-n), n<1, and shows (T,H) scaling, indicating the proximity to a magnetic quantum phase transition. At high Na contents (x = 0.6) the mass of the quasiparticles does never diverge, but renormalizes and becomes strongly field dependent at low temperatures, forming a heavy Fermi-Liquid. Our results make superconducting NaxCoO2 a clear candidate for magnetically mediated pairing.
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We report a systematic study of the $c$ lattice parameter in the Na$_{x}$CoO$_{2}$ phases versus Na content $x>0.5$, in which sodium always displays ordered arrangements. This allows us to single out the first phase which exhibits an AF magnetic order at a Neel temperature $T_{N}=$22 K which is found to occur for $xapprox 0.77(1)$. Pure samples of this phase have been studied both as aligned powders and single crystals. They exhibit identical $^{23}$Na NMR spectra in which three sets of Na sites could be fully resolved, and are found to display $T$ dependencies of their NMR shifts which scale with each other. This allows us to establish that the $T$ variation of the shifts is due to the paramagnetism of the Co sites with formal charge state larger than 3$^{+}$. The existence of a sodium site with axial charge symmetry and the intensity ratio between the sets of $^{23}$Na lines permits us to reveal that the 2D structure of the Na order corresponds to 10 Na sites on top of a 13 Co sites unit cell, that is with $x=10/13approx 0.77$. This structure fits with that determined from local density calculations and involves triangles of 3 Na sites located on top of Co sites (so called Na1 sites). The associated ordering of the Na vacancies is quite distinct from that found for $x<0.75$.
We use the renormalization group method to study the normal state of quasi-one-dimensional superconductors nearby a spin-density-wave instability. On the basis of one-loop scattering amplitudes for the quasi-one-dimensional electron gas, the integration of the renormalization group equations for the two-loop single particle Matsubara self-energy leads to a nonFermi-liquid temperature downturn of the momentum-resolved quasi-particle weight over most part of the Fermi surface. The amplitude of the downturn correlates with the entire instability line for superconductivity, defining an extended quantum critical region of the phase diagram as a function of nesting deviations of the Fermi surface. One also extracts the downward renormalization of interchain hopping amplitudes at arbitrary low temperature in the normal phase. By means of analytical continuation of the Matsubara self-energy, one-particle spectral functions are obtained with respect to both energy and temperature and their anomalous features analyzed in connection with the sequence of instability lines of the phase diagram. The quasi-particle scattering rate is found to develop an unusual temperature dependence, which is best described by the superimposition of a linear and quadratic $T$ dependences. The nonFermi-liquid linear-$T$ component correlates with the temperature scale $T_c$ of the superconducting instability over an extended range of nesting deviations, whereas its anisotropy along the Fermi surface is predicted to parallel the momentum profile of a d-wave pairing gap on the Fermi surface. We examine the implications of our results for low dimensional unconventional superconductors, in particular the Bechgaard salts series of quasi-1D organic conductors, but also the pnictide and cuprate superconductors where several common features are observed.
We prove the direct link between low temperature magnetism and high temperature sodium ordering in NaxCoO2 using the example of a heretofore unreported magnetic transition at 8 K which involves a weak ferromagnetic moment. The 8 K feature is characterized in detail and its dependence on a diffusive sodium rearrangement around 200 K is demonstrated. Applying muons as local probes this process is shown to result in a reversible phase separation into distinct magnetic phases that can be controlled by specific cooling protocols. Thus the impact of ordered sodium Coulomb potential on the CoO2 physics is evidenced opening new ways to experimentally revisit the NaxCoO2 phase diagram.
We review our recent studies on ferromagnetic superconductors, UGe2, URhGe and UCoGe, together with the ferromagnetic quantum criticality and paramagnetic singularity on the Ising 5f-itinerant system UCoAl. Thanks to the variety of ordered moment in ferromagnetic superconductors from 1.5 muB to 0.05 muB, interesting systematic changes or similarities are clarified. All ferromagnetic superconductors show large upper critical field Hc2, and the field-reentrant (-reinforced) phenomena are observed in the field-temperature phase diagram, when the pressure or field direction is tuned for particular conditions. These phenomena are well explained by the ferromagnetic longitudinal fluctuations, which are induced by the magnetic field in transverse configurations. The large Hc2 might be also associated with possible additional effects of Fermi surface instabilities, such as Lifshitz-type singularities.
Theoretically, it is commonly held that in metals near a nematic quantum critical point the electronic excitations become incoherent on the entire `hot Fermi surface, triggering non Fermi liquid behavior. However, such conclusions are based on electron-only theories, ignoring a symmetry-allowed coupling between the electronic nematic variable and a suitable crystalline lattice strain. Here we show that including this coupling leads to entirely different conclusions because the critical fluctuations are mostly cutoff by the non-critical lattice shear modes. At sufficiently low temperatures the thermodynamics remain Fermi liquid type, while, depending on the Fermi surface geometry, either the entire Fermi surface stays cold, or at most there are hot spots. In particular, our predictions are relevant for the iron-based superconductors.
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