Kerr effect measurements in the pseudo-gap regime of LBCO and Pb-BSCO using high resolution Sagnac

ORAL

Abstract

Polar Kerr effect in several high-Tc superconductors systems was measured at zero magnetic field with high precision using a cryogenic Sagnac fiber interferometer with zero-area. We observed non-zero Kerr rotations of order $\sim 1 \mu$rad appearing near the pseudogap temperature $T^*$, and marking what appears to be a true phase transition. In this talk we will review our work on $\mathrm{YBa_2Cu_3O}_{6+x}$, $\mathrm{La_{1.875}Ba_{0.125}CuO_4}$ and $\mathrm{Pb_{0.55}Bi_{1.5} Sr_{1.6}La_{0.4}CuO_{6+\delta}}$. In particular, in Pb-BSCO we observe an emergence of Kerr signal that coincides with ARPES data showing an abrupt change at $T^*$ from a relatively simple one- band metal into a state with profoundly-altered electronic structure.

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Authors

  • Hovnatan Karapetyan

    • Stanford University

  • Vikram Nathan

    • Stanford University

  • Ruihua He

    • Stanford University

  • Makoto Hashimoto

    • Stanford University

  • Z.-X. Shen

    • Stanford University
    • Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Departments of Physics and Applied Physics, Stanford University, CA 94305
    • SIMES, SLAC National Accelerator Lab.

  • Aharon Kapitulnik

    • Stanford University

  • Hiroshi Eisaki

    • Nanoelectronics Research Institute, AIST, Japan
    • AIST, Japan
    • AIST
    • University of Tokyo; CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency; RIKEN (The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research)

  • Jake Koralek

    • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

  • J.P. Hinton

    • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
    • UC Berkeley, LBNL

  • Joe Orenstein

    • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

  • John Tranquada

    • Brookhaven National Laboratory
    • Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory

  • Genda Gu

    • Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory
    • Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science, Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY 11973
    • Brookhaven National Laboratory
    • Brookhaven
    • Brookhaven National Lab

  • Markus Huecker

    • Brookhaven National Laboratory