Commensurate antiferromagnetic excitations as a signature of the pseudogap in the tetragonal high-Tc cuprate HgBa$_2$CuO$_{4+delta}$

Antiferromagnetic correlations have been argued to be the cause of the d-wave superconductivity and the pseudogap phenomena exhibited by the cuprates. Although the antiferromagnetic response in the pseudogap state has been reported for a number of compounds, there exists no information for structurally simple HgBa$_2$CuO$_{4+delta}$. Here we report neutron scattering results for HgBa$_2$CuO$_{4+delta}$ (superconducting transition temperature T$_c$ $sim$ 71 K, pseudogap temperature T* $sim$ 305 K) that demonstrate the absence of the two most prominent features of the magnetic excitation spectrum of the cuprates: the X-shaped hourglass response and the resonance mode in the superconducting state. Instead, the response is Y-shaped, gapped, and significantly enhanced below T*, and hence a prominent signature of the pseudogap state.

Validity of Kohlers rule in the pseudogap phase of the cuprate superconductors

We report in-plane resistivity ($rho$) and transverse magnetoresistance (MR) measurements in underdoped HgBa$_2$CuO$_{4+delta}$ (Hg1201). Contrary to the longstanding view that Kohlers rule is strongly violated in underdoped cuprates, we find that it is in fact satisfied in the pseudogap phase of Hg1201. The transverse MR shows a quadratic field dependence, $deltarho/rho_o=a H^{2}$, with $a(T)propto T^{-4}$. In combination with the observed $rhopropto T^2$ dependence, this is consistent with a single Fermi-liquid quasiparticle scattering rate. We show that this behavior is universal, yet typically masked in cuprates with lower structural symmetry or strong disorder effects.