Momentum-dependent scaling exponents of nodal self-energies measured in strange metal cuprates and modelled using semi-holography

S Smit; E Mauri; L Bawden; F Heringa; F Gerritsen; E van Heumen; Y K Huang; T Kondo; T Takeuchi; N E Hussey; M Allan; T K Kim; C Cacho; A Krikun; K Schalm; H T C Stoof; M S Golden

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-48594-6

Momentum-dependent scaling exponents of nodal self-energies measured in strange metal cuprates and modelled using semi-holography

Nat Commun. 2024 May 29;15(1):4581. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-48594-6.

Authors

S Smit¹, E Mauri², L Bawden³, F Heringa³, F Gerritsen³, E van Heumen³, Y K Huang³, T Kondo⁴, T Takeuchi⁵, N E Hussey^{6

7}, M Allan⁸, T K Kim⁹, C Cacho⁹, A Krikun¹⁰, K Schalm¹¹, H T C Stoof², M S Golden^{12

13}

Affiliations

¹ Van der Waals - Zeeman Institute, Institute of Physics, University of Amsterdam, Sciencepark 904, 1098 XH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. steef.smit@ubc.ca.
² Institute for Theoretical Physics and Center for Extreme Matter and Emergent Phenomena, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
³ Van der Waals - Zeeman Institute, Institute of Physics, University of Amsterdam, Sciencepark 904, 1098 XH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
⁴ Institute for Solid State Physics, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8581, Japan.
⁵ Energy Materials Laboratory, Toyota Technological Institute 2-12-1 Hisakata Tempaku-ku, Nagoya, 468-8511, Japan.
⁶ High Field Magnet Laboratory (HFML-EMFL) and Institute for Molecules and Materials, Radboud University, Toernooiveld 7, 6525 ED, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
⁷ H. H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TL, UK.
⁸ Leiden Institute of Physics, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
⁹ Diamond Light Source, Harwell Campus, Didcot, OX11 0DE, UK.
¹⁰ NORDITA, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University, Hannes Alfvéns väg 12, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden.
¹¹ Institute-Lorentz for Theoretical Physics, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9506, Leiden, The Netherlands.
¹² Van der Waals - Zeeman Institute, Institute of Physics, University of Amsterdam, Sciencepark 904, 1098 XH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. m.s.golden@uva.nl.
¹³ Dutch Institute for Emergent Phenomena (DIEP), Sciencepark 904, 1098 XH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. m.s.golden@uva.nl.

Abstract

The anomalous strange metal phase found in high-T_c cuprates does not follow the conventional condensed-matter principles enshrined in the Fermi liquid and presents a great challenge for theory. Highly precise experimental determination of the electronic self-energy can provide a test bed for theoretical models of strange metals, and angle-resolved photoemission can provide this as a function of frequency, momentum, temperature and doping. Here we show that constant energy cuts through the nodal spectral function in (Pb,Bi)₂Sr_2-xLa_xCuO_6+δ have a non-Lorentzian lineshape, consistent with a self-energy that is k dependent. This provides a new test for aspiring theories. Here we show that the experimental data are captured remarkably well by a power law with a k-dependent scaling exponent smoothly evolving with doping, a description that emerges naturally from anti-de Sitter/conformal-field-theory based semi-holography. This puts a spotlight on holographic methods for the quantitative modelling of strongly interacting quantum materials like the cuprate strange metals.

Abstract

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