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Giant thermal Hall conductivity in the pseudogap phase of cuprate superconductors

Author

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  • G. Grissonnanche

    (Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke)

  • A. Legros

    (Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke
    Université Paris-Saclay)

  • S. Badoux

    (Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke)

  • E. Lefrançois

    (Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke)

  • V. Zatko

    (Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke)

  • M. Lizaire

    (Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke)

  • F. Laliberté

    (Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke)

  • A. Gourgout

    (Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke)

  • J.-S. Zhou

    (University of Texas at Austin)

  • S. Pyon

    (University of Tokyo
    Department of Applied Physics, University of Tokyo)

  • T. Takayama

    (University of Tokyo
    Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research)

  • H. Takagi

    (University of Tokyo
    Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research
    Department of Physics, University of Tokyo
    Institute for Functional Matter and Quantum Technologies, University of Stuttgart)

  • S. Ono

    (Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry)

  • N. Doiron-Leyraud

    (Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke)

  • L. Taillefer

    (Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke
    Canadian Institute for Advanced Research)

Abstract

The nature of the pseudogap phase of the copper oxides (‘cuprates’) remains a puzzle. Although there are indications that this phase breaks various symmetries, there is no consensus on its fundamental nature1. Fermi-surface, transport and thermodynamic signatures of the pseudogap phase are reminiscent of a transition into a phase with antiferromagnetic order, but evidence for an associated long-range magnetic order is still lacking2. Here we report measurements of the thermal Hall conductivity (in the x–y plane, κxy) in the normal state of four different cuprates—La1.6−xNd0.4SrxCuO4, La1.8−xEu0.2SrxCuO4, La2−xSrxCuO4 and Bi2Sr2−xLaxCuO6+δ. We show that a large negative κxy signal is a property of the pseudogap phase, appearing at its critical hole doping, p*. It is also a property of the Mott insulator at p ≈ 0, where κxy has the largest reported magnitude of any insulator so far3. Because this negative κxy signal grows as the system becomes increasingly insulating electrically, it cannot be attributed to conventional mobile charge carriers. Nor is it due to magnons, because it exists in the absence of magnetic order. Our observation is reminiscent of the thermal Hall conductivity of insulators with spin-liquid states4–6, pointing to neutral excitations with spin chirality7 in the pseudogap phase of cuprates.

Suggested Citation

  • G. Grissonnanche & A. Legros & S. Badoux & E. Lefrançois & V. Zatko & M. Lizaire & F. Laliberté & A. Gourgout & J.-S. Zhou & S. Pyon & T. Takayama & H. Takagi & S. Ono & N. Doiron-Leyraud & L. Taillef, 2019. "Giant thermal Hall conductivity in the pseudogap phase of cuprate superconductors," Nature, Nature, vol. 571(7765), pages 376-380, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:571:y:2019:i:7765:d:10.1038_s41586-019-1375-0
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1375-0
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    Cited by:

    1. Lu Chen & Étienne Lefrançois & Ashvini Vallipuram & Quentin Barthélemy & Amirreza Ataei & Weiliang Yao & Yuan Li & Louis Taillefer, 2024. "Planar thermal Hall effect from phonons in a Kitaev candidate material," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-7, December.
    2. Ha-Leem Kim & Takuma Saito & Heejun Yang & Hiroaki Ishizuka & Matthew John Coak & Jun Han Lee & Hasung Sim & Yoon Seok Oh & Naoto Nagaosa & Je-Geun Park, 2024. "Thermal Hall effects due to topological spin fluctuations in YMnO3," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-6, December.
    3. Taiki Uehara & Takumi Ohtsuki & Masafumi Udagawa & Satoru Nakatsuji & Yo Machida, 2022. "Phonon thermal Hall effect in a metallic spin ice," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    4. Dechen Zhang & Kuan-Wen Chen & Guoxin Zheng & Fanghang Yu & Mengzhu Shi & Yuan Zhu & Aaron Chan & Kaila Jenkins & Jianjun Ying & Ziji Xiang & Xianhui Chen & Lu Li, 2024. "Large oscillatory thermal hall effect in kagome metals," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.

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