Multiple quantum oscillation frequencies in YBa2Cu3O6+δ and bilayer splitting

Abstract

Experiments have revealed multiple quantum oscillation frequencies in underdoped high-temperature superconductor YBa2Cu3O6+δ, corresponding to approximately 10% doping, which contains CuO bilayers in the unit cell. These unit cells are further coupled along the c-axis by a tunneling matrix element. A model of the energy dispersion that has its roots in the previously determined electronic structure, combined with twofold commensurate density waves, reveals multiple electron and hole pockets. To the extent that quasiparticles of the reconstructed Fermi surface have finite residues, however small, the formation of Landau levels is the cause of these oscillations, and the bilayer splitting and warping of the electronic dispersion along the direction perpendicular to the CuO-planes are firm consequences. The goal here is to explore this possibility from various directions and provide a better understanding of the rapidly developing experimental situation involving multiple frequencies. An important conclusion is that bilayer splitting is considerably renormalized from the value obtained from band structure calculations. It would be extremely interesting to perform these experiments for higher values of doping. We roughly expect the splitting of the frequencies to increase with doping, but the full picture may be more complex because the density wave order parameter is also expected to decrease with doping, vanishing around the middle of the superconducting dome.