Abstract
Based on the NMR measurements on BiSrLaCuO (La-Bi2201) in strong magnetic fields, we identify the nonsuperconducting pseudogap phase in the cuprates as a Luttinger-volume violating Fermi liquid (LvvFL). This state is a zero-temperature quantum liquid that does not break translational symmetry, and yet, the Fermi surface encloses a volume smaller than the large one given by the Luttinger theorem. The particle number enclosed by the small Fermi surface in the LvvFL equals the doping level , not the total electron number . Both the phase string theory and the dopon theory are introduced to describe the LvvFL. For the dopon theory, we can obtain a semiquantitative agreement with the NMR experiments.
- Received 6 September 2011
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.85.134519
©2012 American Physical Society