Electronic Evolution from the Parent Mott Insulator to a Superconductor in Lightly Hole-Doped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+delta

TL;DR

This study uses angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to observe how the electronic structure of lightly hole-doped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+delta evolves from a Mott insulator to a superconductor, revealing a rigid band shift and key transition features.

Contribution

First detailed ARPES measurements of electronic structure evolution in lightly hole-doped cuprates from parent insulator to superconductor.

Findings

Chemical potential is about 1 eV above the charge transfer band at zero doping.

Band structure shifts rigidly with increasing hole doping.

Insulator-superconductor transition occurs near doping level -0.05 with emergence of quasiparticle peaks.

Abstract

High temperature superconductivity in cuprates is realized by doping the Mott insulator with charge carriers. A central issue is how such an insulating state can evolve into a conducting or superconducting state when charge carriers are introduced. Here, by in situ vacuum annealing and Rb deposition on the Bi2Sr2Ca0.6Dy0.4Cu2O8+delta (Bi2212) sample surface to push its doping level continuously from deeply underdoped (Tc=25 K, doping level p-0.066) to the near zero doping parent Mott insulator, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements are carried out to observe the detailed electronic structure evolution in lightly hole-doped region for the first time. Our results indicate that the chemical potential lies at about 1 eV above the charge transfer band for the parent state at zero doping which is quite close to the upper Hubbard band. With increasing hole doping, the chemical potential moves continuously towards the charge transfer band and the band structure evolution exhibits a rigid band shift-like behavior. When the chemical potential approaches the charge transfer band at a doping level of -0.05, the nodal spectral weight near the Fermi level increases, followed by the emergence of the coherent quasiparticle peak and the insulator-superconductor transition. Our observations provide key insights in understanding the insulator-superconductor transition in doping the parent cuprate compound and for establishing related theories.