Non-monotonic dependence of $T_c$ on the c axis compression in the HTSC cuprate La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$

TL;DR

This paper investigates how c-axis compression affects the electronic structure and superconducting transition temperature in La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$, revealing a non-monotonic dependence of $T_c$ due to competing effects.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed theoretical model accounting for multiple orbital interactions and pairing mechanisms to explain $T_c$ behavior under c-axis compression.

Findings

$T_c$ increases with compression in underdoped regions.

$T_c$ decreases due to pairing constant renormalization.

Non-monotonic $T_c$ behavior near optimal doping.

Abstract

The effect of the the $c$ axis compression on the electronic structure and superconducting properties of the HTSC cuprate La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ at different doping is investigated. The electronic structure of quasiparticle excitations is obtained within the effective five-band Hubbard model using the equation of motion method for Green's functions builded on the Hubbard operators. The superconducting gap and ${T_c}$ are calculated taking into account the exchange pairing mechanism involving not only the Zhang-Rice singlet but also excited two-hole triplet and singlet states. The energy of the $a_{1g}$ orbitals increases with increasing compression and the $a_{1g}$ quasiparticle bands begin to strongly interact with the $b_{1g}$ bands at the top of the valence band. The reconstruction of the region of states determining the superconducting properties results in the high density of states near the Fermi level. This mechanism leads to an increase in $T_c$ in the underdoped region with increasing compression. The pairing constants renormalizations under compression results in ${T_c}$ decreasing. The competition of these two effects leads to non-monotonic behavior of $T_c$ under the $c$-axis compression near optimal doping.