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Influence of apical oxygen on the extent of in-plane exchange interaction in cuprate superconductors

Nature Physics volume 13, pages 1201–1206 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

In high-Tc superconductors the magnetic and electronic properties are determined by the probability that valence electrons jump virtually from site to site in the CuO2 planes, a mechanism opposed by on-site Coulomb repulsion and favoured by hopping integrals. The spatial extent of the latter is related to transport properties, including superconductivity, and to the dispersion relation of spin excitations (magnons). Here, for three antiferromagnetic parent compounds (single-layer Bi2Sr0.9La1.1CuO6+δ, double-layer Nd1.2Ba1.8Cu3O6 and infinite-layer CaCuO2) differing by the number of apical atoms, we compare the magnetic spectra measured by resonant inelastic X-ray scattering over a significant portion of the reciprocal space and with unprecedented accuracy. We observe that the absence of apical oxygens increases the in-plane hopping range and, in CaCuO2, it leads to a genuine three-dimensional (3D) exchange-bond network. These results establish a corresponding relation between the exchange interactions and the crystal structure, and provide fresh insight into the materials dependence of the superconducting transition temperature.

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Figure 1: In-plane momentum dependence of the magnetic excitations of antiferromagnetic layered cuprates measured by RIXS at the Cu L3 resonance.
Figure 2: Spectral fitting and three-dimensional dispersions of magnetic excitations in layered cuprates.
Figure 3: Dispersion of the spin excitations and comparison to model calculations.
Figure 4: Phenomenological relation of the spin-wave dispersions with ligand field d z 2 orbital excitations and exchange range parameter.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by MIUR Italian Ministry for Research through project PIK Polarix and by Fondazione CARIPLO (project ERC-P-ReXS, 2016-0790). M.M. was partially supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. X.J.Z. is grateful for financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11334010 and 11534007), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFA0300300) and the Strategic Priority Research Program (B) of Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB07020300). The authors acknowledge insightful discussions with O. Andersen, E. D. Torre, T. Devereaux, C. Di Castro, M. Grilli and K. Wohlfeld. The experimental data were collected at beam line ID32 of the European Synchrotron (ESRF) in Grenoble (F) using the ERIXS spectrometer designed jointly by the ESRF and Politecnico di Milano.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, I-20133 Milano, Italy

    Y. Y. Peng, G. Dellea, M. Conni, L. Braicovich & G. Ghiringhelli

  2. Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung, Heisenbergstraße 1, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany

    M. Minola, M. Le Tacon & B. Keimer

  3. ESRF, The European Synchrotron, 71 Avenue des Martyrs, F-38043 Grenoble, France

    A. Amorese, K. Kummer & N. B. Brookes

  4. CNR-SPN and Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile e Ingegneria Informatica, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Via del Politecnico 1, I-00133 Roma, Italy

    D. Di Castro & G. Balestrino

  5. Dipartimento di Fisica ”E. Pancini”, Università di Napoli Federico II, Complesso Monte Sant’Angelo, Via Cinthia, I-80126 Napoli, Italy

    G. M. De Luca

  6. CNR-SPIN, Complesso MonteSantangelo - Via Cinthia, I-80126 Napoli, Italy

    G. M. De Luca & M. Salluzzo

  7. Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China

    X. Sun & X. J. Zhou

  8. Institute of Solid State Physics (IFP), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, D-76021 Karlsruhe, Germany

    M. Le Tacon

  9. Dipartimento di Fisica, CNR-SPIN, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, I-20133 Milano, Italy

    L. Braicovich & G. Ghiringhelli

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Contributions

G.G., Y.Y.P. and L.B. conceived and designed the experiments with suggestions from B.K.; G.G., Y.Y.P., L.B., M.M., G.D., N.B.B., K.K., A.A., M.C., M.L.T., D.D.C. and G.M.D.L. performed the measurements. D.D.C. and G.B. grew and characterized the CCO and CCO/STO thin films; M.S. and G.M.D.L. grew and characterized the NBCO thin films; Y.Y.P., X.S. and X.J.Z. synthesized, grew and characterized the Bi2201 single crystals. Y.Y.P. and G.G. analysed the experimental data; G.G., Y.Y.P., M.C. and M.M. performed the model calculations. Y.Y.P. and G.G. wrote the manuscript with the help of M.L.T., B.K. and M.M., and contributions from all authors.

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Correspondence to G. Ghiringhelli.

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Peng, Y., Dellea, G., Minola, M. et al. Influence of apical oxygen on the extent of in-plane exchange interaction in cuprate superconductors. Nature Phys 13, 1201–1206 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys4248

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