Phase fluctuations and the pseudogap in YBa(2)Cu(3)O (x).
The thermodynamics of the superconducting transition is studied as a function of doping using high-resolution expansivity data of YBa(2)Cu(3)O (x) single crystals and Monte Carlo simulations of the anisotropic 3D- XY model. We directly show that T(c) of underdoped YBa(2)Cu(3)O (x) is strongly suppressed from its mean-field value (T(MF)(c)) by phase fluctuations of the superconducting order parameter. For overdoped YBa(2)Cu(3)O (x) fluctuation effects are greatly reduced and T(c) approximately T(MF)(c). We find that T(MF)(c) exhibits a similar doping dependence as the pseudogap energy, naturally suggesting that the pseudogap arises from phase-incoherent Cooper pairing.
Meingast
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C
Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Institut für Festkörperphysik, Karlsruhe, Germany.
Pasler
V
V
Nagel
P
P
Rykov
A
A
Tajima
S
S
Olsson
P
P