Search

The properties of cuprate high-temperature superconductors are largely shaped by competing phases whose nature is often a mystery. Chiefly among them is the pseudogap phase, which sets in at a doping $p^*$ that is material-dependent. What determines $p^*$ is currently an open question. Here we show that the pseudogap cannot open on an electron-like Fermi surface, and can only exist below the doping $p_{FS}$ at which the large Fermi surface goes from hole-like to electron-like, so that $p^*$ $\leq$ $p_{FS}$. We derive this result from high-magnetic-field transport measurements in La$_{1.6-x}$Nd$_{0.4}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ under pressure, which reveal a large and unexpected shift of $p^*$ with pressure, driven by a corresponding shift in $p_{FS}$. This necessary condition for pseudogap formation, imposed by details of the Fermi surface, is a strong constraint for theories of the pseudogap phase. Our finding that $p^*$ can be tuned with a modest pressure opens a new route for experimental studies of the pseudogap., Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, 7 supplemental figures

Here we report the observation of pressure-induced melting of antiferromagnetic (AFM) order and emergence of a new quantum state in the honeycomb-lattice halide alpha-RuCl3, a candidate compound in the proximity of quantum spin liquid state. Our high-pressure heat capacity measurements demonstrate that the AFM order smoothly melts away at a critical pressure (Pc) of 0.7 GPa. Intriguingly, the AFM transition temperature displays an increase upon applying pressure below the Pc, in stark contrast to usual phase diagrams, for example in pressurized parent compounds of unconventional superconductors. Furthermore, in the high-pressure phase an unusual steady of magnetoresistance is observed. These observations suggest that the high-pressure phase is in an exotic gapped quantum state which is robust against pressure up to ~140 GPa., Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures

Extreme magnetoresistance (XMR) in topological semimetals is a recent discovery which attracts attention due to its robust appearance in a growing number of materials. To search for a relation between XMR and superconductivity, we study the effect of pressure on LaBi taking advantage of its simple structure and simple composition. By increasing pressure we observe the disappearance of XMR followed by the appearance of superconductivity at P=3.5 GPa.The suppression of XMR is correlated with increasing zero-field resistance instead of decreasing in-field resistance. At higher pressures, P=11 GPa, we find a structural transition from the face center cubic lattice to a primitive tetragonal lattice in agreement with theoretical predictions. We discuss the relationship between extreme magnetoresistance, superconductivity, and structural transition in LaBi., Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, 1 table

The recent discovery of extreme magnetoresistance in LaSb introduced lanthanum monopnictides as a new platform to study topological semimetals (TSMs). In this work we report the discovery of extreme magnetoresistance in LaBi, confirming lanthanum monopnictides as a promising family of TSMs. These binary compounds with the simple rock-salt structure are ideal model systems to search for the origin of extreme magnetoresistance. Through a comparative study of magnetotransport effects in LaBi and LaSb, we construct a triangular temperature-field phase diagram that illustrates how a magnetic field tunes the electronic behavior in these materials. We show that the triangular phase diagram can be generalized to other topological semimetals with different crystal structures and different chemical compositions. By comparing our experimental results to band structure calculations, we suggest that extreme magnetoresistance in LaBi and LaSb originates from a particular orbital texture on their qasi-2D Fermi surfaces. The orbital texture, driven by spin-orbit coupling, is likely to be a generic feature of various topological semimetals., Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures

Time reversal symmetry (TRS) protects the metallic surface modes of topological insulators (TIs). The transport signature of robust metallic surface modes of TIs is a plateau that arrests the exponential divergence of the insulating bulk with decreasing temperature. This universal behavior is observed in all TI candidates ranging from Bi2Te2Se to SmB6. Recently, several topological semimetals (TSMs) have been found that exhibit extreme magnetoresistance (XMR) and TI universal resistivity behavior revealed only when breaking TRS, a regime where TIs theoretically cease to exist. Among these new materials, TaAs and NbP are nominated for Weyl semimetal due to their lack of inversion symmetry, Cd3As2 is nominated for Dirac semimetal due to its linear band crossing at the Fermi level, and WTe2 is nominated for resonant compensated semimetal due to its perfect electron-hole symmetry. Here we introduce LaSb, a simple rock-salt structure material without broken inversion symmetry, without perfect linear band crossing, and without perfect electron-hole symmetry. Yet LaSb portrays all the exotic field induced behaviors of the aforementioned semimetals in an archetypal fashion. It shows (a) the universal TI resistivity with a plateau at 15 K, revealed by a magnetic field, (b) ultrahigh mobility of carriers in the plateau region, (c) quantum oscillations with a non-trivial Berry phase, and (d) XMR of about one million percent at 9 tesla rivaled only by WTe2 and NbP. Due to its dramatic simplicity, LaSb is the ideal model system to formulate a theoretical understanding of the exotic consequences of breaking TRS in TSMs., Comment: 4 figures, 25 pages including supplementary information

The recent detection of charge-density modulations in YBa2Cu3Oy and other cuprate superconductors raises new questions about the normal state of underdoped cuprates. In one class of theories, the modulations are intertwined with pairing in a dual state, expected to persist up to high magnetic fields as a vortex liquid. In support of such a state, specific heat and magnetisation data on YBa2Cu3Oy have been interpreted in terms of a vortex liquid persisting above the vortex-melting field Hvs at T = 0. Here we report high-field measurements of the electrical and thermal Hall conductivities in YBa2Cu3O6.54 that allow us to probe the Wiedemann-Franz law, a sensitive test of the presence of superconductivity in a metal. In the T = 0 limit, we find that the law is satisfied for fields immediately above Hvs. This rules out the existence of a vortex liquid and it places strict constraints on the nature of the normal state in underdoped cuprates., Comment: 8 pages, includes main text and supplementary information

We report a sudden reversal in the pressure dependence of Tc in the iron-based superconductor RbFe2As2, at a critical pressure Pc = 11 kbar. Combined with our prior results on KFe2As2 and CsFe2As2, we find a universal V-shaped phase diagram for Tc vs P in these fully hole-doped 122 materials, when measured relative to the critical point (Pc, Tc). From measurements of the upper critical field Hc2(T) under pressure in KFe2As2 and RbFe2As2, we observe the same two-fold jump in (1/Tc)(-dHc2/dT) across Pc, compelling evidence for a sudden change in the structure of the superconducting gap. We argue that this change is due to a transition from one pairing state to another, with different symmetries on either side of Pc. We discuss a possible link between scattering and pairing, and a scenario where a d-wave state favored by high-Q scattering at low pressure changes to a state with s+- symmetry favored by low-Q scattering at high pressure., Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, 1 table, Published

The Nernst effect was measured in the electron-doped cuprate superconductor Pr2-xCexCuO4 (PCCO) at four concentrations, from underdoped (x=0.13) to overdoped (x=0.17), for a wide range of temperatures above the critical temperature Tc. A magnetic field H up to 15 T was used to reliably access the normal-state quasiparticle contribution to the Nernst signal, Nqp, which is subtracted from the total signal, N, to obtain the superconducting contribution, Nsc. As a function of H, Nsc peaks at a field H* whose temperature dependence obeys Hc2* ln(T/Tc), as it does in a conventional superconductor like Nb1-xSix. The doping dependence of the characteristic field scale Hc2* - shown to be closely related to the upper critical field Hc2 - tracks the dome-like dependence of Tc, showing that superconductivity is weakened below the quantum critical point where the Fermi surface is reconstructed, presumably by the onset of antiferromagnetic order. Our data at all dopings are quantitatively consistent with the theory of Gaussian superconducting fluctuations, eliminating the need to invoke unusual vortex-like excitations above Tc, and ruling out phase fluctuations as the mechanism for the fall of Tc with underdoping. We compare the properties of PCCO with those of hole-doped cuprates and conclude that the domes of Tc and Hc2 vs doping in the latter materials are also controlled predominantly by phase competition rather than phase fluctuations., Comment: 16 pages, 19 figures

We report a sudden reversal in the pressure dependence of Tc in the iron-based superconductor CsFe2As2, similar to that discovered recently in KFe2As2 [Tafti et al., Nat. Phys. 9, 349 (2013)]. As in KFe2As2, we observe no change in the Hall coefficient at the zero temperature limit, again ruling out a Lifshitz transition across the critical pressure Pc. We interpret the Tc reversal in the two materials as a phase transition from one pairing state to another, tuned by pressure, and investigate what parameters control this transition. Comparing samples of different residual resistivity, we find that a 6-fold increase in impurity scattering does not shift Pc. From a study of X-ray diffraction on KFe2As2 under pressure, we report the pressure dependence of lattice constants and As-Fe-As bond angle. The pressure dependence of these lattice parameters suggests that Pc should be significantly higher in CsFe2As2 than in KFe2As2, but we find on the contrary that Pc is lower in CsFe2As2. Resistivity measurements under pressure reveal a change of regime across Pc, suggesting a possible link between inelastic scattering and pairing symmetry., Comment: 7 figures, 7 pages, published

The pairing mechanism in iron-based superconductors is the subject of ongoing debate. Proximity to an antiferromagnetic phase suggests that pairing is mediated by spin fluctuations, but orbital fluctuations have also been invoked. The former typically favour a pairing state of extended s-wave symmetry with a gap that changes sign between electron and hole Fermi surfaces (s+-), while the latter yield a standard s-wave state without sign change (s++). Here we show that applying pressure to KFe2As2 induces a change of pairing state. The critical temperature Tc decreases with pressure initially, and then suddenly increases, above a critical pressure Pc. The constancy of the Hall coefficient through Pc rules out a change in the Fermi surface. There is compelling evidence that the pairing state below Pc is d-wave, from bulk measurements at ambient pressure. Above Pc, the high sensitivity to disorder argues for a particular kind of s+- state. The change from d-wave to s-wave is likely to proceed via an unusual s + id state that breaks time-reversal symmetry. The proximity of two distinct pairing states found here experimentally is natural given the near degeneracy of d-wave and s+- states found theoretically. These findings make a compelling case for spin-fluctuation-mediated superconductivity in this key iron-arsenide material., Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, including SI, published in Nature Physics

An unusual, non-metallic resistivity of the 111 iron-pnictide compound FeCrAs is shown to be relatively unchanged under pressures of up to 17 GPa. Combined with our previous finding that this non-metallic behaviour persists from at least 80 mK to 800 K, this shows that the non-metallic phase is exceptionally robust. Antiferromagnetic order, with a Neel temperature T_N ~ 125 K at ambient pressure, is suppressed at a rate of 7.1 +/- 0.1 K/GPa, falling to below 50 K at 10 GPa. We conclude that formation of a spin-density wave gap at T_N does not play an important role in the non-metallic resistivity of FeCrAs at low temperatures., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures

We report superconductivity in the ternary half-Heusler compound LuPtBi, with Tc = 1.0 K and Hc2 = 1.6 T. The crystal structure of LuPtBi lacks inversion symmetry, hence the material is a noncentrosymmetric superconductor. Magnetotransport data show semimetallic behavior in the normal state, which is evidence for the importance of spin-orbit interaction. Theoretical calculations indicate that the strong spin-orbit interaction in LuPtBi should cause strong band inversion, making this material a promising candidate for 3D topological superconductivity., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, Table I revised, discussion of the Pauli limit revised

We have studied the effect of pressure on the pyrochlore iridate Eu$_2$Ir$_2$O$_7$, which at ambient pressure has a thermally driven insulator to metal transition at $T_{MI}\sim120$\,K. As a function of pressure the insulating gap closes, apparently continuously, near $P \sim 6$\,GPa. However, rather than $T_{MI}$ going to zero as expected, the insulating ground state crosses over to a metallic state with a negative temperature coefficient of resistivity, calling into question the true nature of both ground states. The high temperature state also crosses over near 6 GPa, from an incoherent to a conventional metal, suggesting a connection between the high and the low temperature states., Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, updated after publication in Physical Review B

Zero-field (ZF) muon spin relaxation ($\mu$SR) measurements have revealed static commensurate magnetic order of Fe moments in NdOFeAs below $T_{N} \sim 135$ K, with the ordered moment size nearly equal to that in LaOFeAs, and confirmed similar behavior in BaFe$_{2}$As$_{2}$. In single crystals of superconducting (Ba$_{0.55}$K$_{0.45}$)Fe$_{2}$As$_{2}$, $\mu$SR spectra indicate static magnetism with incommensurate or short-ranged spin structure in $\sim$ 70 % of volume below $T_{N} \sim$ 80 K, coexisting with remaining volume which exhibits superfluid-response consistent with nodeless gap below $T_{c}\sim 30$ K., Comment: 4 pages 4 figures