Pseudogaps in strongly correlated metals: Optical conductivity within the generalized dynamical mean-field theory approach

Abstract

The optical conductivity of the weakly doped two-dimensional repulsive Hubbard model on the square lattice with the nearest and next-nearest hoppings is calculated within the generalized dynamical mean-field $(\mathrm{DMFT}+{\ensuremath{\sum}}_{\mathbf{p}})$ approach, which includes correlation length scale $\ensuremath{\xi}$ into the standard DMFT equations via the momentum dependent self-energy ${\ensuremath{\sum}}_{\mathbf{p}}$, with a full account of appropriate vertex corrections. This approach takes into consideration the nonlocal dynamical correlations induced, e.g., by short-ranged collective spin-density-wavelike antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations, which (at high enough temperatures) can be viewed as a quenched Gaussian random field with finite correlation length $\ensuremath{\xi}$. The DMFT effective single-impurity problem is solved by numerical renormalization group. We consider both the case of correlated metal with the bandwidth $W\ensuremath{\lesssim}U$ and that of doped Mott insulator with $U⪢W$ ($U$---the value of local Hubbard interaction). The optical conductivity calculated within $\mathrm{DMFT}+{\ensuremath{\sum}}_{\mathbf{p}}$ demonstrates typical pseudogap behavior within the quasiparticle band, in qualitative agreement with experiments in copper oxide superconductors. For large values of $U$, pseudogap anomalies are effectively suppressed.