Fermi-surface reconstruction in a smectic phase of a high temperature superconductor

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that a moderate C_4 symmetry breaking in high-temperature superconductors can induce a charge density wave that reconstructs the Fermi surface, creating small electron pockets consistent with experimental observations.

Contribution

It reveals how a weak, period 4 unidirectional charge density wave can reconstruct the Fermi surface in cuprates under symmetry breaking conditions.

Findings

Charge density wave reconstructs Fermi surface to produce electron pockets.

Fermi pocket size and mass match quantum oscillation experiments.

Charge order aligns with recent NMR findings.

Abstract

It is shown that, in the presence of a moderately strong C_4 symmetry breaking (which could be produced either by lattice orthorhombicity or the presence of an electron nematic phase), a weak, period 4, unidirectional charge density wave ("charge stripe") order can reconstruct the Fermi surface of a typical hole-doped cuprate to produce a small electron pocket. This form of charge density wave order is consistent with that adduced from recent high field NMR experiments in YBCO. The Fermi pocket has an area and effective mass which is a rough caricature of those seen in recent high field quantum oscillation experiments.