Abstract

The properties of cuprate high-temperature superconductors are largely shaped by competing phases whose nature is often a mystery. Chiefly among them is the pseudogap phase, which sets in at a doping p* that is material-dependent. What determines p* is currently an open question. Here we show that the pseudogap cannot open on an electron-like Fermi surface, and can only exist below the doping pFS at which the large Fermi surface goes from hole-like to electron-like, so that p* ≤ pFS. We derive this result from high-magnetic-field transport measurements in La1.6−xNd0.4SrxCuO4 under pressure, which reveal a large and unexpected shift of p* with pressure, driven by a corresponding shift in pFS. This necessary condition for pseudogap formation, imposed by details of the Fermi surface, is a strong constraint for theories of the pseudogap phase. Our finding that p* can be tuned with a modest pressure opens a new route for experimental studies of the pseudogap.

Details

Title
Pseudogap phase of cuprate superconductors confined by Fermi surface topology
Author
Doiron-Leyraud, N 1 ; Cyr-Choinière, O 1 ; Badoux, S 1 ; Ataei, A 1 ; Collignon, C 1 ; Gourgout, A 1 ; Dufour-Beauséjour, S 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Tafti, F F 1 ; Laliberté, F 1 ; M-E Boulanger 1 ; Matusiak, M 2 ; Graf, D 3 ; Kim, M 4 ; J-S, Zhou 5 ; Momono, N 6 ; Kurosawa, T 7 ; Takagi, H 8 ; Taillefer, Louis 9 

1  Institut Quantique, Département de Physique & RQMP, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada 
2  Institut Quantique, Département de Physique & RQMP, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada; Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wrocław, Poland 
3  National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA 
4  École Polytechnique, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, Palaiseau, France; Collège de France, Paris, France 
5  Materials Science and Engineering Program/Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas- Austin, Austin, TX, USA 
6  Department of Applied Sciences, Muroran Institute of Technology, Muroran, Japan 
7  Department of Physics, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan 
8  Department of Advanced Materials, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Japan 
9  Institut Quantique, Département de Physique & RQMP, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada; Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, ON, Canada 
Pages
1-7
Publication year
2017
Publication date
Dec 2017
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20411723
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02122-x
ProQuest document ID
1983425246
Copyright
© 2017. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.