Proximity-induced nodal metal in an extremely underdoped CuO2 plane in triple-layer cuprates
We performed angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy studies on the triple-layer Bi<sub>2</sub>Sr<sub>2</sub>Ca<sub>2</sub>Cu<sub>3</sub>O<sub>10+δ</sub> over a wide doping range. Although the doping level of the inner CuO<sub>2</sub> plane is extremely low in underdoped samples, the d-wave SC gap is enhanced to the unprecedentedly large value of Δ<sub>0</sub> ~ 80-100 meV at the antinode. This gap persists well above T<sub>c</sub> without a Fermi arc, indicating a "nodal metal". We attribute the nodal metallic behavior to the unique local environment of the inner clean CuO<sub>2</sub> plane, sandwiched by nearly optimally-doped two outer planes and hence subject to strong proximity effect from both sides. In the nodal metal, quasiparticle peaks show electron-hole symmetry, suggesting d-wave pairing fluctuations. Thus the proximity effect on the innermost CuO<sub>2</sub> plane is the strongest in the triple-layer cuprates, which explains why the T<sub>c</sub> reaches the maximum at the layer number of three in every multi-layer cuprate family.
Authors
- S. Ideta
- Takao Watanabe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9759-6976)
- Ting-Kuo Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6947-4253)
- Shunpei Yamaguchi
- Shigeyuki Ishida (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9445-8079)
- Kiyohisa Tanaka (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2779-5870)
- Shintaro Adachi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5165-5088)
- Thomas Devereaux (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8072-9237)
- Chung‐Yu Mou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2694-0992)
- T. Fujii (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3297-1341)
- Wen O. Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8431-4215)
- Brian Moritz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3747-8484)
- T. Yoshida (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7045-3107)
- Atsushi Fujimori (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4876-0634)
- Masashi Arita (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8604-8392)
- Takashi Noji
- Nae Sasaki
- S. Uchida
Institutions
- Hiroshima University (JP)
- Hirosaki University (JP)
- University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
- Tokyo Fuji University (JP)
- Tohoku University (JP)
- Kyoto University (JP)
- National Tsing Hua University (TW)
- SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (US)
- Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JP)
- Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica (TW)
- Institute for Molecular Science (JP)
- Kyoto University of Foreign Studies (JP)
- National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (JP)
- The University of Tokyo (JP)
- Stanford University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-10-27
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-64492-x
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.26
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center
- Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
- Ministry of Education, India
- National Science and Technology Council
- Office of Science
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
- Basic Energy Sciences
- SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
- Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering