Abstract
Unconventional symmetry-breaking phenomena due to nontrivial order parameters attract increasing attention in strongly correlated electron systems. Here, we predict theoretically the occurrence of nanoscale spontaneous spin current, called the spin-loop-current (sLC) order, as a promising origin of the pseudogap and electronic nematicity in cuprates. We reveal that the sLC is driven by the odd-parity electron-hole condensations that are mediated by transverse spin fluctuations around the pseudogap temperature . At the same temperature, odd-parity magnon pair condensation occurs. The sLC order is “hidden” in that neither internal magnetic field nor charge-density modulation is induced, whereas the predicted sLC with finite wave-number naturally gives the Fermi arc structure. In addition, the fluctuations of sLC order work as attractive pairing interaction between adjacent hot spots, which enlarges the -wave superconducting transition temperature . The sLC state will be a key ingredient in understanding the pseudogap, electronic nematicity, as well as superconductivity in cuprates and other strongly correlated metals.
8 More- Received 24 February 2020
- Revised 23 August 2020
- Accepted 22 December 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.3.013127
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.
Published by the American Physical Society