Date/Time
Date(s) - 17/02/2005
3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Title: The Nernst effect in high-temperature superconductors

Speaker: Dr. Iddo Ussishkin

Institute: William I. Fine Theoretical Physics Institute
University of Minnesota

Location: BSB-108

Description:

The cuprates, famous for the high temperature of the superconducting phase transition, are by no means conventional superconducting materials. One of the puzzles of high-temperature superconductivity concerns the nature of the non-superconducting state above the critical temperature $T_c$. Recently, a measurement of the Nernst effect, a transverse thermoelectric response, revealed an anomalously large Nernst signal above $T_c$ which is very different from that observed in conventional materials. In this talk, I discuss the theory of the Nernst effect in the cuprates. I will argue that at least in a part of the phase diagram, corresponding to the overdoped cuprates, the puzzle can be explained within the theory of superconducting fluctuations. For the underdoped case, I will consider the limitations set by the Nernst effect measurements on possible theoretical scenarios.