Pseudogap and superconductivity in two-dimensional doped charge-transfer insulators

Lorenzo Fratino, P. Semon, Giovanni Sordi, A. -M. S. Tremblay

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Abstract

High-temperature superconductivity emerges upon doping a state of matter that is insulating because of interactions. A widely studied model considers one orbital per CuO2 unit cell on a square lattice with a strong intraorbital repulsion that leads to a so-called Mott-Hubbard insulator. Here we solve a model that takes into account, within each unit cell, two oxygen orbitals where there is no electron-electron repulsion and a copper orbital with strong electron-electron repulsion. The insulating phase is a so-called charge-transfer insulator, not a Mott-Hubbard insulator. Using cluster dynamical mean-field theory with continuous-time quantum Monte Carlo as an impurity solver and 12 atoms per cluster, we report the normal and superconducting phase diagram of this model as a function of doping, interaction strength, and temperature. As expected, the three-orbital model is consistent with the experimental observation that doped holes are located predominantly on oxygens, a result that goes beyond the one-orbital model. Nevertheless, the phase boundary between pseudogap and correlated metal, the Widom line, and the origin of the pairing energy (kinetic vs potential) are similar to the one-orbital model, demonstrating that these are emergent phenomena characteristic of doped Mott insulators, independently of many microscopic details. Broader implications are discussed.
Original languageEnglish
Article number245147
Pages (from-to)1-6
Number of pages6
JournalPhysical Review B
Volume93
Issue number24
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 24 Jun 2016

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