In phonon mediated conventional
s-wave superconductors, higher-frequency phonon (or smaller atomic mass) leads to a higher superconducting transition temperature, known as the isotope effect. However, in correlated systems, various competing electronic order (such as spin-density-wave, charge-density-wave, and unconventional superconductivity) arises and the effect of electron-phonon coupling on these orders is a long-standing problem. Using the functional renormalization group, here we investigated the interplay between the electron correlation and electron-phonon coupling in the Hubbard-Holstein model on a square lattice. At half-filling, we found spin-density-wave and charge-density-wave phases and the transition between them, while no superconducting phase arises. Upon finite doping,
d-wave/
s-wave superconductivity emerges in proximity to the spin-density-wave/charge-density-wave phase. Surprisingly, lower-frequency Holstein phonons are either less destructive or even beneficial to the various phases, resulting in a negative isotope effect. For the superconducting phases, such an effect is apparently beyond the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory.
Using the versatile double time thermodynamic Green's function approach based on many body theory the renormalized frequencies, phonon energy line widths, shifts and phonon density of states (PDOS) are investigated via a newly formulated Hamiltonian (does not include BCS type Hamiltonian) that includes the effects of electron-phonon, anharmonicities and that of isotopic impurities. The automatic appearance of pairons, temperature, impurity and electron-phonon coupling of renormalized frequencies, widths, shifts and PDOS emerges as a characteristic feature of present theory. The numerical investigations on PDOS for the YBa2Cu3O7 − δ crystal predicts several new feature of high temperature superconductors (HTS) and agreements with experimental observations.
The development and the use of quantum technologies are hindered by a fundamental challenge: Quantum materials exhibit macroscopic quantum properties at extremely low temperatures due to the loss of quantum coherence at elevated temperatures. Here, based on our recent discovery of room temperature superfluorescence in perovskites, we present the Quantum Analog of Vibration Isolation, 'QAVI', model and explain how it protects the quantum phase against dephasing at high temperatures. We then postulate the requirements for observation of macroscopic quantum phenomena at practical temperatures and propose a unified model for all macroscopic quantum phase transitions. We further present the general features of the temperature and density phase diagram of macroscopic quantum phase transitions that are mediated by the QAVI process and identify the similarities observed in the phase diagram of high Tc superconductors. Understanding this fundamental quantum coherence protection mechanism is imperative to accelerate the discovery of high temperature macroscopic quantum phenomena, and offers significant potential for developing quantum technologies functioning under practical conditions.