Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy Studies of Cuprate Superconductors.pdfVIP

Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy Studies of Curpate Superconductors ZHI-XUN SHEN Department of Applied Physics, Physics and Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 This paper summarizes experimental results presented at the international conference honoring Prof. C.N. Yang’s 80th birthday. I show seven examples that illustrate how one can use angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to gain insights into the many-body physics responsible for the rich phase diagram of cuprate superconductors. I hope to give the reader a snapshot of the evolution of this experimental technique from a tool to study chemical bonds and band structure to an essential many- body spectroscopy for one of the most important physics problems of our time. Complex phenomenon in solids is going to be a major theme of physics in the 21st century. As better controlled model systems, a sophisticated understanding on the universality and diversity of these solids may lead to great revelations well beyond themselves. With its rich phases and extremely high superconducting transition temperature, the cuprate superconductor is the most dramatic example of complex phenomena in solids and is thus the most challenging and important problem of the field over the last two decades. High-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) has emerged as a leading tool to push the frontier of this important field of modern physics. It helped setting the intellectual agenda by testing new ideas, discovering surprises, and challenging orthodoxies. Indeed, quite a few ARPES papers are among the most cited physics papers for the periods surveyed by the Institute of Scientific Information [1-5]. There is little doubt that this technique is going to be at the focal point of the necessary debates leading to new paradigms of physics – those gone well beyond the Fermi liquid paradigm so dominated the solid state physi