No Arabic abstract
Temperature dependence of the Hall coefficient, R_H_, has been investigated in charge-spin stripe-ordered La-214 high-T_c_ superconductors. Using the simplest stripe-ordered system of La_2-x_Ba_x_CuO_4_, it has been clarified that both the behavior of R_H_ and its sign exhibit significant dependences on the hole concentration. That is, R_H_ is zero in the ground state of the charge-spin stripe order at x=1/8, while it is negative in the less-stabilized state of the charge stripe for x<1/8. These are interpreted as owing to the delicate balance of the contributions of the hole-like Fermi surface and the possible electron pocket arising from the formation of the charge-spin stripe order.
The origin of the weakly insulatinglike behavior revealed when magnetic fields ($H$) suppress superconductivity in underdoped cuprates has been a longtime mystery. Surprisingly, similar behavior observed recently in La-214 cuprates with striped spin and charge orders is consistent with a metallic, as opposed to insulating, high-field normal state. Here we report a striking finding of the vanishing of the Hall coefficient ($R_mathrm{H}$) in this field-revealed normal state for all $T<(2-6)T_{c}^{0}$, where $T_{c}^{0}$ is the zero-field superconducting transition temperature. In standard models, $R_mathrm{H}$ can only vanish accidentally, and thus $R_mathrm{H}=0$ observed over a wide range of $T$ and $H$ has to imply that charge conjugation (i.e. particle-hole) symmetry is dynamically generated. This is a robust, new fundamental property of the normal state of cuprates with intertwined orders.
The effects of the stripe order on the optical spectra of La-based cuprates are reviewed. The main effect on the high Tc superconducting cuprates is to rapidly reduce the Josephson plasma frequency in the c-axis spectrum as a consequence of weakening of the Josephson coupling between CuO2 layers. This points toward a two dimensional (2D) superconductivity in the stripe phase, although it is difficult to realize a 2D superconductivity in real materials. We also discuss the experimental results suggesting the presence of stripe effect in other cuprates even if they do not show the static stripe phase. Compared to the c-axis spectra, the in-plane spectra are not so dramatically affected by the stripe order, showing a weak gap-like feature and reducing the condensate spectral weight.
Hall effect and magnetoresistance have been measured on single crystals of $NdFeAsO_{1-x}F_{x}$ with x = 0 ($T_c$ = 0 $ $K) and x = 0.18 ($T_c$ = 50 $ $K). For the undoped samples, strong Hall effect and magnetoresistance with strong temperature dependence were found below about 150 K. The magnetoresistance was found to be as large as 30% at 15 K at a magnetic field of 9 T. From the transport data we found that the transition near 155 K was accomplished in two steps: first one occurs at 155 K which may be associated with the structural transition, the second one takes place at about 140 K which may correspond to the spin-density wave like transition. In the superconducting sample with $T_c$ = 50 $ $K, it is found that the Hall coefficient also reveals a strong temperature dependence with a negative sign. But the magnetoresistance becomes very weak and does not satisfy the Kohlers scaling law. These dilemmatic results (strong Hall effect and very weak magnetoresistance) prevent to understand the normal state electric conduction by a simple multi-band model by taking account the electron and hole pockets. Detailed analysis further indicates that the strong temperature dependence of $R_H$ cannot be easily understood with the simple multi-band model either. A picture concerning a suppression to the density of states at the Fermi energy in lowering temperature is more reasonable. A comparison between the Hall coefficient of the undoped sample and the superconducting sample suggests that the doping may remove the nesting condition for the formation of the SDW order, since both samples have very similar temperature dependence above 175 K.
In underdoped cuprate superconductors, a rich competition occurs between superconductivity and charge density wave (CDW) order. Whether rotational symmetry breaking (nematicity) occurs intrinsically and generically or as a consequence of other orders is under debate. Here we employ resonant x-ray scattering in stripe-ordered (La,M)_2CuO_4 to probe the relationship between electronic nematicity of the Cu 3d orbitals, structure of the (La,M)_2O_2 layers, and CDW order. We find distinct temperature dependences for the structure of the (La,M)_2O_2 layers and the electronic nematicity of the CuO_2 planes, with only the latter being enhanced by the onset of CDW order. These results identify electronic nematicity as an order parameter that is distinct from a purely structural order parameter in underdoped striped cuprates.
Although the Hall coefficient R_H is an informative transport property of metals and semiconductors, its meaning in the cuprate superconductors has been ambiguous because of its unusual characteristics. Here we show that a systematic study of R_H in La_{2-x}Sr_{x}CuO_{4} single crystals over a wide doping range establishes a qualitative understanding of its peculiar evolution, which turns out to reflect a two-component nature of the electronic structure caused by an unusual development of the Fermi surface recently uncovered by photoemission experiments.