Quantum Phase Transition in the Magnetic-Field-Induced Normal State of Optimum-Doped High-<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:msub><mml:mi>T</mml:mi><mml:mi>c</mml:mi></mml:msub></mml:math>Cuprate Superconductors at Low Temperatures

Abstract

A 60 T magnetic field suppresses the superconducting transition temperature T_{c} in La_{2-p}Sr_{p}CuO_{4} to reveal a Hall number anomaly, which develops only at temperatures below zero-field T_{c} and peaks at the exact location of p that maximizes T_{c}. The anomaly bears a striking resemblance to observations in Bi_{2}Sr_{2-x}La_{x}CuO_{6+delta}, suggesting a normal-state phenomenology common to the cuprates that underlies the high-temperature superconducting phase. The peak is ascribed to a Fermi surface reconstruction at a quantum phase transition near optimum doping that is coincident with the collapse of the pseudogap state.