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Interface Superconductivity in Cuprates Defies Fermi-Liquid Description

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Abstract

La2−x Sr x CuO4/La2CuO4 bilayers show interface superconductivity that originates from accumulation and depletion of mobile charge carriers across the interface. Surprisingly, the doping level can be varied broadly (within the interval 0.15<x<0.47) without affecting the transition temperature, which stays essentially constant and equal to that in optimally doped material, T c ≈ 40 K. We argue that this finding implies that doping up to the optimum level does not shift the chemical potential, unlike in ordinary Fermi liquids. We discuss possible physical scenarios that can give doping-independent chemical potential in the pseudogap regime: electronic phase separation, formation of charge density waves, strong Coulomb interactions, or self-trapping of mobile charge carriers.

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Acknowledgments

The experimental work was done by J.W., A.T.B. and I.B. at BNL and was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division. I.B. was supported in part by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s EPiQS Initiative through Grant GBMF4410. Z.R. and M.V. were supported by the Serbian Ministry of Science, Project No. 171027.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of Belgrade, Studentski trg 12, 11158, Belgrade, Serbia

    Zoran Radović & Mihajlo Vanević

  2. Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Division, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, 11973-5000, USA

    Jie Wu, Anthony T. Bollinger & Ivan Božović

  3. Department of Applied Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA

    Ivan Božović

Authors
  1. Zoran Radović
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  2. Mihajlo Vanević
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  3. Jie Wu
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  4. Anthony T. Bollinger
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  5. Ivan Božović
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Correspondence to Ivan Božović.

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Radović, Z., Vanević, M., Wu, J. et al. Interface Superconductivity in Cuprates Defies Fermi-Liquid Description. J Supercond Nov Magn 30, 725–729 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10948-016-3636-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10948-016-3636-6

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