Evolution of a Metal to Insulator Transition in Ca$_{2-x}$Na$_{x}$CuO$_{2}$Cl$_{2}$, as seen by ARPES

TL;DR

This study uses ARPES to investigate how doping causes a metal-insulator transition in Ca$_{2-x}$Na$_{x}$CuO$_{2}$Cl$_{2}$, revealing complex gap structures and electronic behaviors related to superconductivity.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the evolution of electronic structure and gap behavior across the insulator-metal transition in a cuprate superconductor.

Findings

Chemical potential shifts with doping.

Deviations from canonical d-wave gap form.

Presence of two gaps in the electronic structure.

Abstract

We present angle resolved photoemission (ARPES) data on Na-doped Ca$_2$CuO$_2$Cl$_2$. We demonstrate that the chemical potential shifts upon doping the system across the insulator to metal transition. The resulting low energy spectra reveal a gap structure which appears to deviate from the canonical $d_{x2-y2} ~ |cos(k_x a)-cos(k_y a)|$ form. To reconcile the measured gap structure with d-wave superconductivity one can understand the data in terms of two gaps, a very small one contributing to the nodal region and a very large one dominating the anti-nodal region. The latter is a result of the electronic structure observed in the undoped antiferromagnetic insulator. Furthermore, the low energy electronic structure of the metallic sample contains a two component structure in the nodal direction, and a change in velocity of the dispersion in the nodal direction at roughly 50 meV. We discuss these results in connection with photoemission data on other cuprate systems.