From quantum oscillations to charge order in high-Tc copper oxides in high magnetic fields

Abstract

This article constitutes an update made of numerous elements from an article by Vignolle et al. [C. R. Phys. 12 (2011) 446] published in the issue of C. R. Physique dedicated to superconductivity. By including this article to the present issue on physics in high magnetic field, we have aimed, in agreement with the editorial board of the review, offering a complete issue and also reporting on the last developments in the study of superconductors in high field. We review how experiments in very high magnetic fields over the last five years have given a new twist to the understanding of the normal state of hole-doped cuprate superconductors. The discovery of quantum oscillations in underdoped YBa2Cu3Oy and overdoped Tl2Ba2CuO6 + δ has proven the existence of a Fermi surface across the whole phase diagram, which had been a controversial issue for more than twenty years. However, the striking difference in oscillation frequency for the two compounds has revealed a very different Fermi surface topology. The observation of negative Hall and Seebeck coefficients in the underdoped materials has shown that the large hole-like Fermi surface of overdoped materials undergoes a reconstruction in the high field and low temperature limits for which quantum oscillation can be observed. This has been interpreted as evidence for a translational symmetry breaking due to some form of electronic (spin, charge, or orbital current) order. The angular dependence of the quantum oscillations has constrained the source of the Fermi-surface reconstruction to something other than a spin-density wave with moments perpendicular to the field. Finally, nuclear magnetic resonance studies have revealed that it is actually charge order, without spin order, which is induced in the copper oxide planes as soon as superconductivity is sufficiently weakened by the magnetic field. The results suggest that there is a generic competition between superconductivity and a charge-density-wave instability in high Tc cuprates.