Electronic phases in iron-based high temperature superconductors
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- High temperature superconductivity (HTSC) is a topic that has fascinated physicists for decades not only due to the intricate underlying properties of nature that it reflects, but also to the challenging nature of the physics problem it presents. For over two decades, condensed matter physicists have wrestled the cuprate problem as the only material family of HTSC. The discovery of the iron-based superconductors (FeSCs) in 2008 brought a fresh perspective to the field, as now comparison and contrast can be made between the two families in the hope of identifying the bare minimal ingredients for the HTSC phenomenon. In this regard, one of the key findings early on was that the FeSC share a phase diagram that is arguably similar to the cuprates, that is, the parent compound is a magnetically ordered state, which is suppressed with doping before superconductivity emerges in a dome-like fashion. In this dissertation, I approach the FeSC problem from two major perspectives using the technique of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy: i) understanding the electronic correlation strength in the normal state, and ii) understanding the nature of the electronic phases in proximity to superconductivity. Through a comprehensive and systematic study of many FeSC families, I find that FeSCs are not Fermi liquids, nor are they strongly correlated like the doped Mott insulators of the cuprates, but rather moderately correlated, for which theoretical models of both itinerant and localized components are necessary for capturing the essential physics. For the second perspective, I find direct evidence for an electronic nematic phase bounded by the structural transition and Fermi surface reconstruction associated with the spin density wave order. Furthermore, I present direct spectroscopic evidence that these two orders compete with superconductivity in an underdoped FeSC. These results are similar to the competing nature of the pseudogap to superoconductivity in the cuprates, suggesting that phase competition may play a non-trivial role for HTSC.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2014 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Yi, Ming |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Physics. |
| Primary advisor | Shen, Zhi-Xun |
| Thesis advisor | Shen, Zhi-Xun |
| Thesis advisor | Devereaux, Thomas Peter, 1964- |
| Thesis advisor | Fisher, Ian |
| Advisor | Devereaux, Thomas Peter, 1964- |
| Advisor | Fisher, Ian |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Ming Yi. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Physics. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2014. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2014 by Ming Yi
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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