Valence bond glass theory of electronic disorder and the pseudogap state of high-temperature cuprate superconductors

Phys Rev Lett. 2009 Mar 13;102(10):107001. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.107001. Epub 2009 Mar 9.

Abstract

We show that the low-energy fluctuations of the valence bond due to the superexchange are pinned by the electronic disorder from off-stoichiometric dopants, leading to a valence bond glass (VBG) pseudogap phase in underdoped high-T_{c} cuprates. The antinodal Fermi surface sections are gapped out, giving rise to a normal state Fermi arc whose length shrinks with underdoping. Below T_{c}, the superexchange interaction induces a d-wave superconducting gap that coexists with the VBG pseudogap. The evolution of the local and momentum-space spectroscopy with doping and temperature captures the salient properties of the pseudogap phenomena and the electronic disorder.