Abstract
The behaviour of electrons in solids is well described by Landau's Fermi-liquid theory, which predicts that although electrons in a metal interact, they can still be treated as well defined fermions, which are called ‘quasiparticles’. At low temperatures, the ability of quasiparticles to transport heat is given strictly by their ability to transport charge, as described by a universal relation known as the Wiedemann–Franz law, which hitherto no material has been known to violate. High-temperature superconductors have long been thought to fall outside the realm of Fermi-liquid theory, as suggested by several anomalous properties, but this has yet to be shown conclusively. Here we report an experimental test of the Wiedemann–Franz law in the normal state of a copper-oxide superconductor, (Pr,Ce)2CuO4, which reveals that the elementary excitations that carry heat in this material are not fermions. This is compelling evidence for the breakdown of Fermi-liquid theory in high-temperature superconductors.
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Acknowledgements
We thank C. Lupien, E. Boaknin, M. Sutherland, M. Chiao, R. Gagnon, J. Brooks, L. Balicas and B. Brandt for their invaluable help in various aspects of the measurements. This work was supported by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and funded by NSERC of Canada. L.T. acknowledges the support of a Premier's Research Excellence Award from the Government of Ontario. The work in Maryland was supported by the NSF Division of Condensed Matter Physics.
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Hill, R., Proust, C., Taillefer, L. et al. Breakdown of Fermi-liquid theory in a copper-oxide superconductor. Nature 414, 711–715 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/414711a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/414711a
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