Ladderlike optical conductivity in the spin-fermion model

Laura Classen, Neil J. Robinson, and Alexei M. Tsvelik
Phys. Rev. B 99, 115110 – Published 7 March 2019

Abstract

In the nested limit of the spin-fermion model for the cuprates, one-dimensional physics in the form of half-filled two-leg ladders emerges. We show that the renormalization group flow of the corresponding ladder is towards the d-Mott phase, a gapped spin-liquid with short-ranged d-wave pairing correlations, and reveals an intermediate SO(5)×SO(3) symmetry. We use the results of the renormalization group in combination with a memory-function approach to calculate the optical conductivity of the spin-fermion model in the high-frequency regime, where processes within the hot spot region dominate the transport. We argue that umklapp processes play a major role. For finite temperatures, we determine the resistivity in the zero-frequency (dc) limit. Our results show an approximate linear temperature dependence of the resistivity and a conductivity that follows a nonuniversal power law. A comparison to experimental data supports our assumption that the conductivity is dominated by the antinodal contribution above the pseudogap.

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  • Received 14 November 2018
  • Revised 29 January 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.99.115110

©2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Laura Classen1, Neil J. Robinson2, and Alexei M. Tsvelik1

  • 1Condensed Matter Physics & Materials Science Division, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973-5000, USA
  • 2Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands

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Issue

Vol. 99, Iss. 11 — 15 March 2019

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