Crossover from the 2D Heisenberg to the 1D Quantum Spin Ladder Regime in Underdoped High Tc Cuprates

TL;DR

This paper proposes that the normal state properties of underdoped high Tc cuprates are explained by a crossover from 2D Heisenberg to 1D spin ladder regimes at a characteristic temperature, linking pseudogap phenomena to spin gaps in 1D ladders.

Contribution

It introduces a model connecting the pseudogap in underdoped cuprates to a crossover from 2D to 1D spin regimes, explaining transport and magnetic properties.

Findings

Crossover temperature T* marks the transition between 2D and 1D regimes.

In the 1D regime, transport is controlled by magnetic correlations of spin ladders.

The pseudogap corresponds to the spin gap in even-chain 1D spin ladders.

Abstract

The enigmatic scaling behaviour of the normal state properties of the high Tc cuprates has been explained by assuming that a crossover from the two- dimensional Heisenberg (2D-H) to the one-dimensional spin ladder (1D-SL) regime takes place at temperature T=T*. For T<T* stripe formation results in the quantum 1D transport with the characteristic inelastic length L_phi being fully controlled by the magnetic correlation length xi_m of the even-chain SL, whereas for T> T* the 2D quantum transport is realized with L_\phi governed by the 2D-H correlations L_phi=xi_m=exp(J/T)$. Therefore, the pseudogap found in underdoped (p<p_opt) high Tc's is the spin-gap Delta(p) in even-chain 1D-SL.