Self-generated electronic heterogeneity and quantum glassiness in the high temperature superconductors

TL;DR

This paper investigates the spin and charge behaviors in copper oxide superconductors, identifying a quantum critical point at optimal doping and a glassy inhomogeneous state at lower doping levels, highlighting intrinsic properties of doped Mott insulators.

Contribution

It provides a systematic analysis linking quantum criticality and glassy states to doping levels in high-temperature superconductors, emphasizing their intrinsic nature.

Findings

Quantum critical point at optimal doping

Formation of glassy inhomogeneous state below optimal doping

Intrinsic properties of doped Mott insulators

Abstract

We present a systematic study of the spin and charge dynamics of copper oxide superconductors as a function of carrier concentration $x$. Our results portray a coherent physical picture, which reveals a quantum critical point at optimum doping ($x=x_{opt}$), and the formation of an inhomogeneous glassy state at $x < x_{opt}$. This mechanism is argued to arise as an intrinsic property of doped Mott insulators, and therefore to be largely independent of material quality and level of disorder.