Hole-Like Fermi Surface in the Overdoped Non-Superconducting Bi$_{1.8}$Pb$_{0.4}$Sr$_2$CuO$_{6+\delta}$

TL;DR

This study investigates the electronic structure of a cuprate superconductor, revealing that superconductivity disappears before a Lifshitz transition occurs, challenging existing theories linking Fermi surface topology to superconductivity.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the doping dependence of electronic structure and its relation to superconductivity in cuprates, especially regarding the timing of Lifshitz transition and superconductivity loss.

Findings

Superconductivity vanishes at lower doping than the Lifshitz transition.

The Fermi surface changes from hole-like to electron-like without immediately destroying superconductivity.

Results suggest a need to re-examine the role of spin fluctuations in cuprate superconductors.

Abstract

In high-temperature cuprate superconductors, the anti-ferromagnetic spin fluctuations are thought to have a very important role in naturally producing an attractive interaction between the electrons in the $d$-wave channel. The connection between superconductivity and spin fluctuations is expected to be especially consequential at the overdoped end point of the superconducting dome. In some materials, that point seems to coincide with a Lifshitz transition, where the Fermi surface changes from the hole-like centered at ($\pi, \pi$) to the electron-like, centered at the $\Gamma$ point causing a loss of large momentum anti-ferromagnetic fluctuations. Here, we study the doping dependence of the electronic structure of Bi$_{1.8}$Pb$_{0.4}$Sr$_2$CuO$_{6+\delta}$ in angle-resolved photoemission and find that the superconductivity vanishes at lower doping than at which the Lifshitz transition occurs. This requires a more detailed re-examination of a spin-fluctuation scenario.