Cuprate Trilogy

Electronic structure of overdoped La1.77Sr0.23CuO4. (left) dx2-y2 and dz2 band structure
along the nodal direction. (middle) Light polarization analysis of the dx2-y2 and dz2 bands.
(right) Anti-nodal Fermi surface warping along the kz direction.

A sequence of ARPES experiments on superconducting cuprates have been carried out at the SIS and ADRESS instruments at the Swiss Light Source. The first study identified the dz2 band in overdoped La2-xSrxCuO4 and revealed the existence of an antinodal hybridization gap between the dx2-y2 and dz2 bands. As a direction consequence, orbital hybridization must exist at the Fermi level. This violation of the orbital distilled condition is unfavorable for superconductivity. The study thus identified one of the limiting parameters for the critical transition temperature of superconductivity [1]. In a second study, it was demonstrated how the hybridization gap, imposed by symmetry, is closing along the nodal Cu-Cu bond direction. This structure constitutes the first experimental realization of 2D type-II Dirac Fermions [2]. Finally as a consequence of the dz band’s proximity to the Fermi level, a pronounced Fermi surface kz warping was detected directly by soft x-ray ARPES. Mapping out the full three-dimensional Fermi surface had implications for the pseudo-gap problem. With the observed kz warping it is no-longer possible to interpret the specific heat enhancements through a van-Hove singularity scenario. Therefore, pseudo gap quantum criticality was put forward as the most plausible scenario [3].

[1] C. Matt et al., Nature Communications 9, 972 (2018)

[2] M. Horio et al., Nature Communications 9, 3252 (2018)

[3] M. Horio et al., Physical Review Letters 121, 77004 (2018)