The superfluid density in cuprate high-Tc superconductors - a new paradigm

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The doping dependence of the superfluid density, rₛ, of high-Tc superconductors is usually considered in the context of the Uemura relation, namely Tc proportional to rs, which is generally assumed to apply in the underdoped regime. We show that a modified plot of Tc/Do versus rs, where Do is the maximum d-wave gap at T=0, exhibits universal features that point to an alternative interpretation of the underlying physics. In the underdoped region this plot exhibits the canonical negative curvature expected when a ground-state correlation competes with superconductivity (SC) by opening up a gap in the normal-state DOS. In particular rs is suppressed much faster than Tc/Do or indeed Tc. The pseudogap is found to strongly modify the SC ground state.