Quantum effects go critical

QM

An enduring theme in strongly correlated materials is the optimization of superconductivity in the vicinity of a quantum critical point. Quantum fluctuations are maximized at a quantum critical point, where an associated phase transition is suppressed to zero temperature. The occurrence of a quantum critical point in copper-oxide superconductors, however, has remained shrouded in uncertainty.

Our measurements over a wide range of dopings under very high magnetic fields in YbBa2Cu3O6+x uncovered two quantum critical points as a function of doping, each of which is in the vicinity of a maximum in superconducting temperature.

  • Quasiparticle mass enhancement approaching optimal doping in a high-Tc superconductor
    Science 348, 317 (2015)
    B. J. Ramshaw, S. E. Sebastian, R. D. McDonald, James Day, B. S. Tan, Z. Zhu, J. B. Betts, Ruixing Liang, D. A. Bonn, W. N. Hardy, and N. Harrison

 

Research highlights

Suchitra Sebastian

ses59@cam.ac.uk

01223 850481

Siân Dutton

sed33@cam.ac.uk

01223 764159

Cavendish Laboratory,

19 J J Thomson Avenue,
Cambridge,
CB3 0HE

Maxwell Center