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arXiv:2105.03975

Quantum phase transition in overdoped La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ evinced by the superfluid density

T. Schneider

Published May 9, 2021• 0 citations
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Abstract

The superfluid density of overdoped La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ thin films of high quality have been measured with Tc (defined by the onset of the Meissner effect) from 5.1 to 41.6 K by Bosovic et al. Given this Tc the superfluid density shows no clear evidence of critical fluctuations and no indication of vortex unbinding as T->Tc. Nevertheless, the superfluid density displays the expected behavior for for a quantum phase transition (QPT) in the (3+1)D-xy universality class, rho(T=0)~Tc^2. However, this relation is also a hallmark of dirty superconductors, treated in the mean-field approximation. Here we attempt to clear out the nature of the suppression of ro(T) as Tc->0. Noting that for any finite system the continuous transition will be rounded we perform a finite size scaling analysis. It uncovers that the ro(T) data data are consistent with a finite length limited 3D-xy transition. In some films it is their thickness and in others their inhomogeneity that determines the limiting length. Having established the precondition for the occurrence of a QPT mapping on the (3+1) D-xy model, we explore the consistency with the hallmarks of this transition. In particular with the relations rho(T)/rho(0)=1-ycT/Tc, rho((0)^Tc^2, yc=alpha*Tc/ro(0), where alpha is the coefficient in rho(T)=rho(0)-alphaT as T->0. The emerging agreement with these characteristics points clearly to a quantum fluctuations induced suppression, revealing the crossover from the thermal to the quantum critical regime as Tc ->0. In the classical-quantum mapping it corresponds to a 3D to (3 + 1)D crossover.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2105.03975

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We discuss some problems related to quantum critical phenomena in superfluids and superconductors. In Ch. 1, we apply generalizations of hyperuniversality to quantum phase transitions at zero temperature. We find new universal amplitude combinations involving the superfluid density in Bose systems, as well as confirm and extend previous proposals for universal transport coefficients in two-dimensional superconducting films and magnetic-field-induced metal-insulator transitions. In Ch. 2, we apply the double-dimensionality expansion of Dorogovstev to derive renormalization-group recursion relations for a Bose fluid in a random external potential. We find a nontrivial fixed point. The onset of mean-field behavior for dimensions d > d[subscript]c = 4 is unconventional, yielding discontinuous exponents. Including positive temperatures, we give a clear picture of various crossover regimes. In Ch. 3, We give a detailed derivation of the critical thermodynamics of O(n) spin models, correct to O([epsilon] = 4 - d), using a generalization of the renormalization-group trajectory integral and noncritical matching technique introduced by Rudnick and Nelson. We especially emphasize the coexistence-curve behavior for spins with a continuous symmetry (n [...] 2), deriving detailed expressions for the renormalized spin-wave stiffness and longitudinal susceptibility.
When the superconducting transition temperature [Formula: see text] sufficiently approaches zero, quantum fluctuations are expected to be overwhelmingly amplified around zero temperature so that the mean-field approximation may break down. This implies that quantum critical phenomena may emerge in highly underdoped and overdoped regions, where the transition temperature [Formula: see text] is sufficiently low. By using Gor’kov’s Green function method, we propose a superconducting quantum critical equation (SQCE) for describing such critical phenomena. For two-dimensional (2D) overdoped materials, SQCE shows that the transition temperature [Formula: see text] and the zero-temperature superfluid phase stiffness [Formula: see text] will obey a two-class scaling combined by linear and parabolic parts, which agrees with the existing experimental investigation [I. Božović et al., Dependence of the critical temperature in overdoped copper oxides on superfluid density, Nature 536 (2016) 309–311]. For three-dimensional (3D) overdoped materials, SQCE predicts that the two-class scaling will be replaced by the linear scaling. Furthermore, we show that SQCE can be applied into highly underdoped region by using Anderson’s non-Fermi liquid model.
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Theoretically, we recently showed that the scaling relation between the transition temperature T_c and the superfluid density at zero temperature n_s (0) might exhibit a parabolic pattern [Scientific Reports 6 (2016) 23863]. It is significantly different from the linear scaling described by Homes' law, which is well known as a mean-field result. More recently, Bozovic et al. have observed such a parabolic scaling in the overdoped copper oxides with a sufficiently low transition temperature T_c [Nature 536 (2016) 309-311]. They further point out that this experimental finding is incompatible with the standard Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) description. Here we report that if T_c is sufficiently low, applying the renormalization group approach into the BCS action at zero temperature will naturally lead to the parabolic scaling. Our result indicates that when T_c sufficiently approaches zero, quantum fluctuations will be overwhelmingly amplified so that the mean-field approximation may break down at zero temperature.