Evolution of the pseudogap from Fermi arcs to the nodal liquid

Author:  ["A. Kanigel","M. R. Norman","M. Randeria","U. Chatterjee","S. Souma","A. Kaminski","H. M. Fretwell","S. Rosenkranz","M. Shi","T. Sato","T. Takahashi","Z. Z. Li","H. Raffy","K. Kadowaki","D. Hinks","L. Ozyuzer","J. C. Campuzano"]

Publication:  Nature Physics

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Tags:     Physics

Abstract

The response of a material to external stimuli depends on its low-energy excitations. In conventional metals, these excitations are electrons on the Fermi surface—a contour in momentum (k) space that encloses all of the occupied states for non-interacting electrons. The pseudogap phase in the copper oxide superconductors, however, is a most unusual state of matter1. It is metallic, but part of its Fermi surface is ‘gapped out’ (refs 2, 3); low-energy electronic excitations occupy disconnected segments known as Fermi arcs4. Two main interpretations of its origin have been proposed: either the pseudogap is a precursor to superconductivity5, or it arises from another order competing with superconductivity6. Using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we show that the anisotropy of the pseudogap in k-space and the resulting arcs depend only on the ratio T/T*(x), where T*(x) is the temperature below which the pseudogap first develops at a given hole doping x. The arcs collapse linearly with T/T*(x) and extrapolate to zero extent as T→0. This suggests that the T=0 pseudogap state is a nodal liquid—a strange metallic state whose gapless excitations exist only at points in k-space, just as in a d-wave superconducting state.

Cite this article

Kanigel, A., Norman, M., Randeria, M. et al. Evolution of the pseudogap from Fermi arcs to the nodal liquid. Nature Phys 2, 447–451 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys334

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