Metal-insulator transition and pseudogap in Bi_(1.76)Pb_(0.35)Sr_(1.89)CuO_(6+δ) high-T_c cuprates

摘要

It is inferred from bulk-sensitive muon Knight shift measurement for a Bi_(1.76)Pb_(0.35)Sr_(1.89)CuO_(6+δ) single-layer cuprate that the metal-insulator (MI) transition (in the low-temperature limit, T → 0) occurs at the critical hole concentration p = p_(MI) = 0.09(1), where the electronic density of states (DOS) at the Fermi level is reduced to zero by the pseudogap irrespective of the Neel order or spin glass magnetism. Superconductivity also appears for p ＞ p_(MI), suggesting that this feature is controlled by the MI transition. More interestingly, the magnitude of the DOS reduction induced by the pseudogap remains unchanged over a wide doping range (0.1 ≤ p ≤ 0.2), indicating that the pseudogap remains as a hallmark of the MI transition for p ＞ p_(MI).