1998/08/31 by T. Senthil, Matthew P. A. Fisher, Leon Balents +1 · 4 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Rare-earth and actinide compounds #Superconducting Materials and Applications #cond-mat.str-el #cond-mat.supr-con
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.81.4704
4 pages, 1 figure
arxiv created 1998/10/08 · openalex publication_date 1998/11/23 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We present a theory of the effects of impurity scattering in d_x2\ensuremath-y2 superconductors and their quantum disordered counterparts, based on a nonlinear-sigma-model formulation. We show the existence, in a quasi-two-dimensional system, of a novel spin-metal phase with a nonzero spin diffusion constant at zero temperature. With decreasing interlayer coupling, the system undergoes a quantum phase transition (in a new universality class) to a localized spin insulator. Experimental implications for spin and thermal transport in the high-temperature superconductors are discussed.