Kondo Effect in High-T_c Cuprates

TL;DR

This paper investigates the Kondo effect in high-T_c cuprates with nonmagnetic impurities, providing a theoretical model that aligns with experimental resistivity data across different doping regimes.

Contribution

It introduces a spin-charge separated state model to explain impurity effects in high-T_c cuprates, predicting resistivity behavior consistent with experiments in various doping conditions.

Findings

Residual resistivity dominated by spinons in overdoped regime

T-dependent resistivity determined by holons

Residual resistivity formula matches experimental data

Abstract

We study the Kondo effect due to the nonmagnetic impurity, e.g., Zn, in high-T_c cuprates based on the spin-change separated state. In the optimal or overdoped case with the Kondo screening, the residual resistivity is dominated by the spinons while the T-dependent part determined by the holons. This gives $\rho(T) = { {4 \hbar} /{e^2}} { { n_{imp.}} /{(1-x)}} + {{\alpha T} / x}$ (x: hole concentration,$n_{imp.}$: impurity concentration, $\alpha$: constant ), which is in agreement with experiments. In the underdoped region with the pseudo spin gap, an SU(2) formulation predicts that the holon phase shift is related to the formation of the local spin moment, and hence the residual resistivity is given by $\rho_{res.} = { {4 \hbar} /{ e^2}} { { n_{imp.}}/{x}} $, which is also consistent with the experiments. The magnetic impurity case, e.g., Ni, is also discussed.