Instability towards staggered loop currents in the three-orbital model for cuprate superconductors

S. Bulut; A. P. Kampf; W. A. Atkinson

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.92.195140

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Instability towards staggered loop currents in the three-orbital model for cuprate superconductors

S. Bulut, A. P. Kampf, W. A. Atkinson

DOI 10.1103/PhysRevB.92.195140 · Physical Review B

T1

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Abstract

We present evidence for the existence of a spontaneous instability towards an orbital loop-current phase in a multiorbital Hubbard model for the CuO2 planes in cuprates. Contrary to the previously proposed θII phase with intra-unit cell currents, the identified instability is towards a staggered pattern of intertwined current loops. The orbitally resolved current pattern thereby shares its staggered character with the proposal of d-density wave order. The current pattern will cause a Fermi surface reconstruction and the opening of a pseudogap. We argue that the pseudogap phase with time-reversal symmetry breaking currents is susceptible to further phase transitions and therefore offers a route to account for axial incommensurate charge order and a polar Kerr effect in underdoped cuprates.

Source-reported materials — not catalogue approval

Formula	Reported Tc (K)	Pressure (GPa)	Type
CuO2 Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula.	—	Pressure not reported	unknown