# Absence of anisotropic universal transport in YBCO

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## Abstract

There exists significant in-plane anisotropy between $`a`$ and $`b`$ axis for various properties in YBCO. However recent thermal conductivity measurement by Chiao et al. which confirms previous microwave conductivity measurement by Zhang et al., shows no obvious anisotropy in the context of universal transport. We give a possible explanation of why the anisotropy is seen in most properties but not seen in the universal transport.

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The topic of anisotropic superconductors is currently of great interest in relation to high-temperature superconductivity. For example, in the most studied material YBCO, due to the orthorhombic nature of its band structure, it exhibits strong in-plane anisotropy between some measurable quantities along the $`a`$ and $`b`$ axis. Anisotropic behavior is confirmed in the magnetic penetration depth $`\lambda `$ , normal-state resistivity $`\rho `$, optical conductivity $`\sigma _s(\omega )`$ , and thermal conductivity $`\kappa `$ . Consistently a value of roughly two is found for the ratio of the carrier density to the effective electron mass (or the square of plasmon frequency) between the $`b`$-axis and the $`a`$-axis. This implies, in regard to YBCO, that the contribution from the CuO chain is crucial and of the same order as the CuO<sub>2</sub> plane contribution.

It is well known, following a Drude-like model, that the normal-state DC electrical conductivity is given by $`\sigma _n=ne^2\tau /m`$ with $`n`$ the carrier density, $`m`$ the effective mass of the carrier, and $`\tau `$ the average scattering time. When the system undergoes a phase transition into a superconducting $`d_{x^2y^2}`$ state, a universal microwave conductivity $`\sigma _s^0=ne^2/\pi m\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$ ($`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$ is the maximum gap on Fermi surface) is predicted at low temperatures . This universality arises due to the cancellation between the finite impurity-induced quasiparticle density of states at zero energy and the scattering time. Universal features have been confirmed in YBCO by Zhang et al.  for the microwave conductivity and by Taillefer et al.  for the thermal conductivity. Clearly $`\sigma _n`$ and $`\sigma _s^0`$ share a common dependence on $`n/m`$ so that one expects a similar in-plane $`a`$-$`b`$ axis anisotropy for them. Apart from the dependence on $`n/m`$, an anisotropic $`\sigma _n`$ can also arise from an anisotropic scattering time $`\tau `$, while the universal $`\sigma _s^0`$, by the meaning of “universal”, is independent of the scattering rate.

More recent thermal conductivity measurements of Chiao et al.  which confirm previous microwave conductivity measurements of Zhang et al.  on YBCO have observed the predicted low-temperature universality  in both $`a`$ and $`b`$ directions, but observed no significant anisotropy between the two. This is in contradiction with the large anisotropy observed in many other quantities.

In this paper, we propose a scenario that resolves the discrepancy mentioned above. In reality, YBCO has three conducting layers (two CuO<sub>2</sub> plane and one CuO chain layer) within a unit cell. There is strong evidence  that the gap in all three layers is mainly $`d_{x^2y^2}`$-wave like with some small admixture of an $`s`$-wave component . The sub-dominant component arises because of the orthorhombic nature of YBCO. The Fermi surfaces are quite different in the different layers. For isolated layers, it is tetragonally two-dimensional for the two CuO<sub>2</sub> planes, while it is highly one-dimensional for the CuO chain layer.

A model that captures the physics in a simple way is the following. We assume all three layers in YBCO to have a circular Fermi surface as is usually done and assume a $`d_{x^2y^2}`$-wave gap, described by $`\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤=\mathrm{\Delta }_0\mathrm{cos}(2\varphi )`$ as usual with $`\varphi `$ a polar angle in the 2D Brillouin zone. But to model for the single chain layer, we introduce a cutoff angle $`\varphi _c`$ (see Fig. 1) which corresponds to an open circular Fermi surface and simulates the highly one-dimensional nature of the chain band. The Fermi surface for chain band is shown as in Fig. 1(b) with the CuO chain taken to be along the $`k_y`$ axis. A cutoff angle, $`\varphi _c>\pi /4`$, corresponds to the angular position where a minimum gap starts to appear on the Fermi surface of the chain layer. The measured properties will correspond to the sum of the contributions from the two plane layers (associated with a complete Fermi-surface integration) and the one chain layer (associated with an incomplete Fermi-surface integration).

Measurements on YBCO can be divided into two categories. The ones which are strongly dependent on seeing the gap nodes on Fermi surface (e.g., $`\sigma _s^0`$) and anothers which are not too dependent such as the value of the zero-temperature penetration depth $`\lambda (0)`$. In the former case, due to the cutoff angle, the gap nodes may not cross anywhere on the entire Fermi surface for the chain band, and anisotropy is consequently suppressed because of the reduction of universal conductivity in the chain layer.

Normal-State Transport.— Assuming that the scattering rate is not dependent on the direction of the momentum $`𝐤`$, the ratio of normal chain conductivity along the $`a`$ and $`b`$ axis is then given by ($`v`$ is the Fermi velocity)

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\sigma _n^a}{\sigma _n^b}}={\displaystyle \frac{v_x^2_c}{v_y^2_c}}={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{cos}^2\varphi _c}{\mathrm{sin}^2\varphi _c}},`$ (1)   
where, $`A_c(2/\pi )_{\varphi _c}^{\pi /2}𝑑\varphi A`$, denotes an incomplete Fermi-surface average for the chain layer. In Fig. 2, we plot the ratio, as a function of the cutoff angle $`\varphi _c`$, given in Eq. (1). It is seen, as expected, that $`\sigma _n^b>\sigma _n^a`$ when an incomplete Fermi-surface integration is carried out because $`v_y^2_c`$ has larger components than $`v_x^2_c`$. When $`\varphi _c`$ is large corresponding to a flatter band, $`\sigma _n^b\sigma _n^a`$. For example in the case $`\varphi _c=45^o`$, $`\sigma _n^b/\sigma _n^a4`$. This, in combination with the plane contribution, conforms with the large observed anisotropy between the the $`a`$ and $`b`$-axis resistivities . In a strictly 1D model for the chains, $`\sigma ^a`$ would be zero. Here it is finite but becomes small when $`\varphi _c`$ is large which approaches the chain case more closely and the model is good enough for qualitative arguments.

Similar arguments can be applied to the anisotropy exhibited in the zero-temperature value of the London penetration depth. Recent measurement of Basov et al.  showed for pure YBCO that $`\lambda _a(0)1600\mathrm{\AA }`$ and $`\lambda _b(0)1000\mathrm{\AA }`$. In the pure limit, the square of the inverse penetration depth is given by

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\lambda _\mu ^2}}(T)={\displaystyle \frac{8\pi e^2}{c^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{\Omega }}}{\displaystyle \underset{𝐤}{}}v_{𝐤,\mu }^2\left[{\displaystyle \frac{f(E_𝐤)}{E_𝐤}}{\displaystyle \frac{f(ϵ_𝐤)}{ϵ_𝐤}}\right]`$ (2)   
and is associated with the superfluid density. Here $`e`$ is electron charge, $`c`$ the velocity of light, $`v_{𝐤,\mu }`$ is $`\mu `$ component of the Fermi velocity, and $`f`$ the Fermi-Dirac distribution function. The electron energy in the normal state is $`ϵ_𝐤`$ and $`E_𝐤`$ is the quasiparticle energy in the superconducting state with $`E_𝐤=\sqrt{ϵ_𝐤^2+\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤^2}`$. The zero-temperature value of $`\lambda _\mu `$ is determined solely by the second term in (2) and depends only on normal-state parameters. By considering an incomplete Fermi-surface integration for the chain layer, one obtains

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda _b^2(0)}{\lambda _a^2(0)}}={\displaystyle \frac{v_x^2_c}{v_y^2_c}}={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{cos}^2\varphi _c}{\mathrm{sin}^2\varphi _c}}.`$ (3)   
Thus, similar to Eq. (1) for the resistivity ratio, the introduction of a cutoff angle will naturally lead to the right ratio for the observed zero-temperature anisotropy of the penetration depths. (One must add in a plane contribution when comparison with experiment is made.)

Superconducting-State Transport.— Using the Kubo formalism, the zero-temperature microwave conductivity along the $`\mu `$-direction for the chain layer is given by

$`\sigma _\mu (0)=e^2{\displaystyle \underset{𝐤}{\overset{c}{}}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{v_\mu ^2\gamma ^2}{(\gamma ^2+ϵ_𝐤^2+\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}_𝐤^2)^2}}\right],`$ (4)   
where $`c`$ denotes an incomplete Fermi surface average, $`\gamma =i\mathrm{\Sigma }_0(\omega =0)`$ is the impurity-induced scattering rate, and $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}_𝐤=\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤+\mathrm{\Sigma }_1(\omega =0)`$ is the impurity renormalized gap at zero frequency with $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_i`$ the self-energies (see later). It is known that, for a gap with $`d_{x^2y^2}`$-symmetry and a complete Fermi surface average, there will be no renormalization effect on the gap ($`\mathrm{\Sigma }_1=0`$), but this is no longer the case for a chain. After carrying out the energy integration, Eq. (4) is reduced to

$`\sigma _\mu (0)=N(0)e^2{\displaystyle \frac{\gamma _\mu ^2(\varphi )\gamma ^2}{[\gamma ^2+\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}^2(\varphi )]^{\frac{3}{2}}}}_c,`$ (5)   
where $`N(0)=m/(2\pi \mathrm{}^2)`$ is the electronic density of states at the Fermi surface and $`m`$ is the electron mass for the band. For the $`a`$-axis, $`\gamma _a(\varphi )=\mathrm{cos}\varphi `$ and for the $`b`$-axis, $`\gamma _b(\varphi )=\mathrm{sin}\varphi `$.

To show the physics in a transparent way, we first ignore the gap renormalization, $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}(\varphi )\mathrm{\Delta }(\varphi )=\mathrm{\Delta }_0\mathrm{cos}(2\varphi )`$, and manipulate Eq. (5) to obtain $`\sigma _{a,b}(0)(ne^2/\pi m\mathrm{\Delta }_0)I_{a,b}(\varphi _c,\gamma )`$, where $`n=k_F^2/2\pi `$ is the layer carrier density and

$`I_{a,b}(\varphi _c,\gamma )2{\displaystyle _{\varphi _c}^{\pi /2}}𝑑\varphi {\displaystyle \frac{(\mathrm{cos}^2\varphi ,\mathrm{sin}^2\varphi )\overline{\gamma }^2}{[\overline{\gamma }^2+\mathrm{cos}^22\varphi ]^{\frac{3}{2}}}}.`$ (6)   
Here, $`\overline{\gamma }\gamma /\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$ is the normalized scattering rate. The effect of impurities on the renormalization of the gap and on the effective scattering rate will be discussed later. In Fig. 3, we plot $`I_{a,b}`$ for two different choices of $`\overline{\gamma }`$, namely $`\overline{\gamma }=0.1`$ and $`0.01`$. For small $`\gamma `$, the function $`I_a`$ is indistinguishable from $`I_b`$ at all values of $`\varphi _c`$. Only when $`\gamma `$ is large, does $`I_b`$ starts to deviate from $`I_a`$ and, due to the fact that the chain Fermi surface mainly develops in the $`\varphi =\pm \pi /2`$ region and has no contribution from the $`\varphi =0,\pi `$ region, $`\sigma _b(0)`$ is slightly larger than $`\sigma _a(0)`$. More importantly, $`I_{a,b}`$ almost vanish as long as $`\varphi _c>\varphi _0`$ (nodal angle) in the small $`\gamma `$ case. (In our present case for simplicity, we have $`\varphi _0=\pi /4`$.)

The small saturated low-temperature microwave conductivity in a $`d_{x^2y^2}`$-wave superconductor is recovered from Fig. 3 in the case of $`\varphi _c0`$. As is clearly seen in Fig. 3, both $`I_a`$ and $`I_b`$ approach one and the conductivity is saturated to the value $`\sigma _a(0)=\sigma _b(0)\sigma _s^0=ne^2/(\pi m\mathrm{\Delta }_0)`$, independent of $`\gamma `$, i.e., of the impurity concentration. It is worth emphasizing that both $`\sigma _a(0)`$ and $`\sigma _b(0)`$ are close to the saturated value $`\sigma _s^0`$ as long as $`\varphi _c<\varphi _0`$. The latter case means that the gap nodes cross pieces of the Fermi surface. In the opposite case $`\varphi _c>\varphi _0`$, the residual conductivity $`\sigma _a(0)`$ and $`\sigma _b(0)`$ (or $`I_a`$ and $`I_b`$) are both strongly suppressed. In this case, no gap nodes cross the one-dimensional chain Fermi surface. This is an effect due solely to the geometry of the chain Fermi surface and arises even though the gap used in our model calculation has pure $`d_{x^2y^2}`$ symmetry. Moreover, when $`\varphi _c>\varphi _0`$ and a minimum gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{min}}\mathrm{\Delta }_0|\mathrm{cos}(2\varphi _c)|`$ is seen on the chain Fermi surface, one can show that $`I_a<\pi \mathrm{cos}^2\varphi _c\overline{\gamma }^2/(\overline{\gamma }^2+\overline{\mathrm{\Delta }}_{\mathrm{min}})^{3/2}`$ and $`I_b<\pi \mathrm{sin}^2\varphi _c\overline{\gamma }^2/(\overline{\gamma }^2+\overline{\mathrm{\Delta }}_{\mathrm{min}})^{3/2}`$. Here $`\overline{\mathrm{\Delta }}_{\mathrm{min}}\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{min}}/\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$. This means that both $`I_a`$ and $`I_b`$ are negligibly small when $`\gamma \mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{min}}`$.

Thus, for the case of YBCO under consideration here, there is a possibility that the gap nodes do not cross the entire Fermi surface for the highly one-dimensional chain band ($`\varphi _c>\varphi _0`$) and, as a consequence, no saturation for $`\sigma _{a,b}(0)`$ occurs in the chain layer. In addition, for the same reason that the residual conductivity is strongly suppressed in chain layer (for both $`a`$ and $`b`$-axes), there is no significant anisotropy in the residual microwave conductivity.

In order to understand what the temperature regime is, in which the universal value is valid for YBCO, one recalls that the low-temperature microwave conductivity, $`\sigma (T)\sigma _s^0(1+T^2/\gamma ^2)`$, as given by Hirschfeld et al.  for a $`d_{x^2y^2}`$-wave superconductor with a complete circular Fermi-surface. Therefore, for the CuO<sub>2</sub> planes only, one needs to have $`T\gamma `$ to achieve universality. For the chain layer in which the gap nodes do not cross the chain-band Fermi surface, a minimum gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{min}}`$ is seen and a result similar to the $`s`$-wave case holds for the low temperature residual conductivity, namely $`\sigma (T)\sigma _n(\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{min}}/T)e^{\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{min}}/T}`$ is predicted (see, for example, Ref. ). The chain residual conductivity is thus strongly suppressed until the temperature $`T\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{min}}`$. The above picture corresponds exactly to the strong suppression of $`\sigma _a(0)`$ and $`\sigma _b(0)`$ for chain layer discussed before. Hence, the chain layer will have little effect on the temperature limit where universality holds if $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{min}}`$ associated with the chain is larger than $`\gamma `$ associated with the plane.

Now we discuss the effect of impurity scattering on the zero-frequency effective scattering rate \[$`\gamma =i\mathrm{\Sigma }_0(\omega =0)`$\] and gap renormalization \[$`\delta \mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤=\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}_𝐤\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤=\mathrm{\Sigma }_1(\omega =0)`$\]. In the usual $`t`$-matrix approximation, the self-energies $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_0(\omega )=n_iG_0/(c^2G_0^2+G_1^2)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_1(\omega )=n_iG_1/(c^2G_0^2+G_1^2)`$ with $`n_i`$ the impurity concentration, $`c^21/v_i^2`$ ($`v_i`$ is the impurity potential), and the integrated Green’s function $`G_i(\omega )_𝐤G_i(𝐤,\omega )`$. We note in general that the impurity renormalization effect should also be included in the band structure $`\delta ϵ_𝐤=\mathrm{\Sigma }_3`$ (in a general sense, $`\varphi _c`$ will also be renormalized in our model). However, this is safely neglected.

In the unitary resonant scattering limit ($`c=0`$), we obtain the coupled equations ($`\delta \mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤\delta `$)

$`\gamma `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{n_i}{2\pi N(0)}}{\displaystyle \frac{I_0(\varphi _c)}{I_0^2(\varphi _c)+I_1^2(\varphi _c)}}`$ (7)   
$`\delta `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{n_i}{2\pi N(0)}}{\displaystyle \frac{I_1(\varphi _c)}{I_0^2(\varphi _c)+I_1^2(\varphi _c)}},`$ (8)   
where

$`I_0(\varphi _c)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\overline{\gamma }}{\sqrt{\overline{\gamma }^2+(\mathrm{cos}2\varphi +\overline{\delta })^2}}}_c`$ (9)   
$`I_1(\varphi _c)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{cos}2\varphi +\overline{\delta }}{\sqrt{\overline{\gamma }^2+(\mathrm{cos}2\varphi +\overline{\delta })^2}}}_c`$ (10)   
with $`\overline{\delta }\delta /\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$. In Fig. 4, we show our self-consistent solutions for $`\gamma `$ and $`\delta `$ as a function of $`\varphi _c`$ given by Eqs. (8) and (10). We have used two different impurity concentrations, namely $`n_i/4N(0)\mathrm{\Delta }_0=0.1`$ and $`0.01`$. Two features are noted in Fig. 4: (i) $`\gamma `$ is strongly suppressed in the large $`\varphi _c`$ case and (ii) the gap renormalization $`\delta `$ is always negative. The strong suppression of $`\gamma `$ in the larger $`\varphi _c`$ case is a natural consequence of the evolution of a $`d`$-wave superconductor towards an $`s`$-wave superconductor (i.e., a minimum gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{min}}`$ develops in the chain). On the other hand, the result that the gap renormalization $`\delta `$ is negative is because the highly 1D Fermi surface samples mainly the negative portion of the $`d`$-wave gap.

Analytical results are available in three different regimes. In the $`\varphi _c0`$ limit, one recovers the results for the complete Fermi surface case (appropriate for CuO<sub>2</sub> plane) that is $`\gamma (\mathrm{\Delta }_0/\tau )^{1/2}`$ \[$`\tau ^1n_i/N(0)`$ is the normal-state scattering rate\] and $`\delta =0`$ (i.e., no gap renormalization). When $`\varphi _c`$ is small but finite (in the case that Fermi surface still sees nodes but the band structure has evolved from the tetragonal to the orthorhombic limit), we find $`I_0\overline{\gamma }\mathrm{ln}\overline{\gamma }`$ and $`I_11/\varphi _c`$. Consequently, $`\gamma \mathrm{\Delta }_0\mathrm{exp}(\tau \mathrm{\Delta }_0\varphi _c^2)`$ and $`\delta 1/(\tau \varphi _c)`$. Thus, $`\gamma `$ is decaying exponentially as $`\varphi _c`$ increases and $`|\delta |`$ is proportional to $`1/\varphi _c`$. When $`\varphi _c>\varphi _0`$ such that a minimum gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{min}}`$ develops on the Fermi surface, we find $`\gamma `$ is small (similar to the $`s`$-wave case), while $`\delta 1/[\tau (\pi /2\varphi _c)]`$. Therefore, $`|\delta |`$ increases as $`\varphi _c`$ increases and diverges when $`\varphi _c`$ approaches $`\pi /2`$. Of course, the latter case is an unphysical regime. The three different regimes for $`\delta `$ are seen most clearly in Fig. 4.

Since $`\delta <0`$, the gap nodes will be effectively shifted downward (or equivalently $`\varphi _0<\pi /4`$). As a result, this effect increases the chance that the gap nodes will not cross the entire chain Fermi surface. In addition to the effect of impurity, the appearance of a negative $`s`$-wave admixture in the $`d_{x^2y^2}`$-wave gap  can naturally distort the gap nodes to be less than 45 degree and thus leads to a similar consequence. A finite minimum gap on the chain Fermi surface is therefore seen to be a robust feature of the one dimensional nature of the bands and of a $`d`$-wave gap. Recently, a detailed survey of the effect of Ni impurity (substitution for Cu) on YBCO has been carried out by Homes et al.  using optical measurement. They concluded that the deposition of Ni is mainly situated in the chain layer. Hence the change with Ni impurity concentration can be used to test our model.

W.C.W. acknowledges the support from National Science Council (NSC) of Taiwan under Grant No. NSC 87-2112-M-003-014 and the hospitality of National Center of Theoretical Science (CTS) of Taiwan. J.P.C. acknowledges the support from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada and of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIAR).