d-Wave bipolaronic stripes and two energy scales in cuprates.pdf

a r X i v : c o n d - m a t / 0 0 1 0 0 6 0 v 2 [ c o n d - m a t .s u p r - c o n ] 5 O c t 2 0 0 0 d-wave bipolaronic stripes and two energy scales in cuprates A.S. Alexandrov Department of Physics, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, United Kingdom There is strong experimental evidence for pairing of polaronic carriers in the normal state, two distinct energy scales, d-wave superconducting order parameter, and charge segregation in the form of stripes in several cuprates. All these remarkable phenomena might be unified in the framework of the bipolaron theory as a result of the formation of mobile bipolarons in the normal state and their Bose-Einstein condensation. Extending the BCS theory towards an intermediate and strong-coupling regime we show that there are two energy scales in this regime, a temperature independent incoherent gap and a temperature dependent coherent gap combining into one temperature dependent global gap. The temperature dependence of the gap and single particle (Giaver) tunnelling spectra in cuprates are quantitatively described. A framework for understanding of two distinct energy scales observed in Giaver tunnelling and Andreev reflection experiments is provided. We suggest that both d-wave superconducting order parameter and striped charge distribution result from the bipolaron (center-of-mass) energy band dispersion rather than from any particular interaction. PACS numbers:74.20.-z,74.65.+n,74.60.Mj 1 Introduction There is strong evidence for normal state gaps in high-Tc cuprates from the uniform susceptibility [1,2], inelastic neutron scattering and NMR [3,4], electron energy-loss spectroscopy [5], specific heat [6], angle-resolved photoe- mission (ARPES) [7,8], tunnelling [9,10], photoexcited quasiparticle relaxation [11], and some kinetic measure- ments [12]. One view supported by ARPES is that the gap reflects precursor superconducting correlations in the BCS-like state below some characteristic temperature T ?