A Fermi liquid perspective on the high field ground state of the cuprate superconductors
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- The nature of the parent metallic state from which high temperature superconductivity emerges has remained fiercely controversial in the three decades since the discovery of the cuprate superconductors. Surprisingly, recent experiments in magnetic fields high enough to quench superconductivity have revealed a metallic state whose properties are remarkably conventional, and well explained within the context of Fermi liquid theory. Yet, even within this paradigm, these experiments have raised several fundamental theoretical questions. This thesis focuses on a few such experimentally motivated matters of theoretical principle. The primary themes involve issues surrounding quantum oscillations, as well as the recent discovery of charge density waves (CDWs) in the underdoped cuprates. I begin with a discussion of how charge density waves in YBCO can be related to earlier discovered stripes in the `214' family of cuprates, and also consider the experimental consequences of the resulting vestigial orders which break discrete rotational and/or mirror symmetries. I show that X-ray scattering measurements of seemingly biaxial CDW order, can in fact originate from a three dimensional `crisscrossed' pattern of stripes. This three dimensional pattern breaks mirror symmetries, leading to sharp consequences for quantum oscillation spectra, possible detection in elastoresistance experiments, and each of these topics form chapters of this thesis. The discussion of quantum oscillations starts by considering whether they are even possible in the presence of incommensurate CDWs that formally destroy translation symmetry, rendering the concept of a Fermi surface approximate at best. Using exact dualities, I show that quantum oscillations are no longer periodic in 1/B, and even disappear for sufficiently strong incommensurate CDWs. In a subsequent chapter, I use similar dualities to constrain the form of the Fermi surface that is possible in YBCO, and discuss the strong evidence for both mirror symmetry breaking and significant quasiparticle renormalization. Finally, I examine the behavior of the Hall number of a metal when nematicity results in a Lifshitz transition where the Fermi surface topology evolves from a closed pocket to open sheets. I provide analytic expressions for the critical behavior of the Hall number, and also relate these results to recent experiments in the cuprates. I conclude this thesis by synthesizing these ideas into a proposed doping evolution for the Fermi surface of an idealized cuprate.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2017 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Maharaj, Akash V |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Physics. |
| Primary advisor | Raghu, Srinivas, 1978- |
| Thesis advisor | Raghu, Srinivas, 1978- |
| Thesis advisor | Hwang, Harold Yoonsung, 1970- |
| Thesis advisor | Kivelson, Steven |
| Advisor | Hwang, Harold Yoonsung, 1970- |
| Advisor | Kivelson, Steven |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Akash V. Maharaj. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Physics. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2017. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2017 by Akash Vivek Maharaj
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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