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# The influence of initial impurities and irradiation conditions on defect production and annealing in silicon for particle detectors

## 1 Introduction

The use of silicon detectors in high radiation environments, as to be expected in future high energy accelerators or in space missions, poses severe problems due to changes in the properties of the material, and consequently influences the performances of detectors.

As a consequence of the degradation to radiation of the semiconductor material, an increase of the reverse current due the reduction of the minority carrier lifetime, a reduction of the charge collection efficiency and a modification of the effective doping, due to the generation of trapping centres, are observed in the detector characteristics.

In this paper, the effects of irradiation conditions and various initial impurities in the starting material are discussed in the frame of the phenomenological model able to explain quantitatively defect production and evolution toward stable defects during and after irradiation in silicon. The model supposes three steps.

In the first step, the incident particle, having kinetic energies with values in the intermediate up to high energy range, interacts with the semiconductor material. The peculiarities of the interaction mechanisms are explicitly considered for each kinetic energy.

In the second step, the recoil nuclei resulting from these interactions lose their energy in the lattice. Their energy partition between displacements and ionisation is considered in accord with the Lindhard theory ( and authors’ contributions ).

A point defect in a crystal is an entity that causes an interruption in the lattice periodicity. In this paper, the terminology and definitions in agreement with M. Lannoo and J. Bourgoin  are used in relation to defects. We denote the displacement defects, vacancies and interstitials, as primary point defects, prior to any further rearrangement. After this step the concentration of primary defects is calculated.

The mechanisms of interaction of the incident particle with the semiconductor lattice, accompanied by displacement defect production have been discussed in some papers, see, e.g. references . The incident particle produces, as a consequence of its interaction with ions of the semiconductor lattice, cascades of displacements.

In silicon, vacancies and interstitials are essentially unstable and interact via migration, recombination, and annihilation or produce other defects.

The concentration of primary defects represents the starting point for the following step of the model, the consideration of the annealing processes, treated in the frame of the chemical rate theory. A review of previous works about the problem of the annealing of radiation induced defects in silicon can be found, e.g. in Reference .

Without free parameters, the model is able to predict the absolute values of the concentrations of defects and their time evolution toward stable defects, starting from the primary incident particle characterised by type and kinetic energy.

The first two steps have been treated extensively in previous papers , where the concentration of primary defects has been calculated. In this paper, the third step is discussed extensively and represents a generalisation of the previous results published in references  including also the carbon contributions to defect kinetics.

The influence and the effects of different initial impurity concentrations of phosphorus, oxygen and carbon as well as of the irradiation conditions were systematically studied. Vacancy-interstitial annihilation, interstitial migration to sinks, vacancy - impurity complexes ($`VP`$, $`V_2`$, $`VO`$, $`V_2O`$, $`C_iO_i`$, $`C_iC_s`$) - only the stable defects confirmed experimentally in silicon for high energy physics applications were considered. The correlation between the rate of defect productions, the temperature and the time evolution of the defect concentrations was also investigated. Some conclusions about the possibilities to obtain semiconductor materials harder to radiation are given.

## 2 Production of primary defects

The basic assumption of the present model is that the primary defects, vacancies and interstitials, are produced in equal quantities and are uniformly distributed in the material bulk. They are produced by the incoming particle, as a consequence of the subsequent collisions of the primary recoil in the lattice, or thermally (only Frenkel pairs are considered). The generation term $`G`$ is the sum of two components:

$$G=G_R+G_T$$
(1)
where $`G_R`$ accounts for the generation by irradiation, and $`G_T`$ for thermal generation. The concentration of the primary radiation induced defects per unit fluence $`CPD`$ in silicon has been calculated as the sum of the concentration of defects resulting from all interaction processes, and all characteristic mechanisms corresponding to each interaction process, using the explicit formula (see details, e.g. in references ):

$$CPD\left(E\right)=\frac{N_{Si}}{2E_{Si}}\underset{i}{}\left(\frac{d\sigma }{d\mathrm{\Omega }}\right)_{i,Si}L(E_{Ri})_{Si}d\mathrm{\Omega }=\frac{1}{N_A}\frac{N_{Si}A_{Si}}{2E_{Si}}NIEL\left(E\right)$$
(2)
where $`E`$ is the kinetic energy of the incident particle, $`N_{Si}`$ is the atomic density in silicon, $`A_{Si}`$ is the silicon atomic number, $`E_{Si}`$ \- the average threshold energy for displacements in the semiconductor, $`E_{Ri}`$ \- the recoil energy of the residual nucleus produced in interaction $`i`$, $`L(E_{Ri})`$ \- the Lindhard factor that describes the partition of the recoil energy between ionisation and displacements and $`(d\sigma /d\mathrm{\Omega })_i`$ \- the differential cross section of the interaction between the incident particle and the nucleus of the lattice for the process or mechanism $`i`$, responsible in defect production. $`N_A`$ is Avogadro’s number. The formula gives also the relation with the non ionising energy loss ($`NIEL`$) the rate of energy loss by displacement $`(dE/dx)_{ni}`$ .

In Figure 1, the kinetic energy dependence of $`CPD`$ for different particles is presented: for pions the values are calculated in accord with equation (1) and are from reference , and for the other particles these are evaluated from the published $`NIEL`$ calculations, as follows: for protons - reference , for neutrons - reference , for electrons - reference  and for photons from . The main source of errors in the calculated concentration of primary defects comes from the modelling of the particle - nucleus interaction and from the number and quality of the experimental data available for these processes.

Due to the important weight of annealing processes, as well as to their very short time scale, $`CPD`$ is not a measurable physical quantity. In silicon, vacancies and interstitials are essentially unstable and interact via migration, recombination, and annihilation or produce other defects. In the simplifying hypothesis of random distribution of $`CPD`$ for all particles, used in the present paper, the identity of the particle is lost after the primary interaction, and two different particles could produce the same generation rate ($`G_R`$) for vacancy-interstitial pairs if the following condition:

$$G_R=[\left(CPD\right)_{part.a}(E_1)]\mathrm{\Phi }_{part.a}(E_1)=[\left(CPD\right)_{part.b}(E_2)]\mathrm{\Phi }_{part.2(E_2)}$$
(3)
is fulfilled. Here, $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is the flux of particles ($`a`$) and ($`b`$) respectively, and $`E_1`$ and $`E_2`$ their corresponding kinetic energies.

## 3 The kinetics of radiation induced defects

Silicon used in high energy physics detectors is n-type high resistivity (4 $`÷`$ 6 K$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ cm) phosphorus doped FZ material.

The effect of oxygen in irradiated silicon has been a subject of intensive studies in remote past. In the last decade a lot of studies have been performed to investigate the influence of different impurities, especially oxygen and carbon, as possible ways to enhance the radiation hardness of silicon for detectors in the future generation of experiments in high energy physics - see, e.g. references . Some people consider that these impurities added to the silicon bulk modify the formation of electrically active defects, thus controlling the macroscopic device parameters. Empirically, it is considered that if the silicon is enriched in oxygen, the capture of radiation-generated vacancies is favoured by the production of the pseudo-acceptor complex vacancy-oxygen. Interstitial oxygen acts as a sink for vacancies, thus reducing the probability of formation of the divacancy related complexes, associated with deeper levels inside the gap.

The concentrations of interstitial oxygen $`O_i`$ and substitutional carbon $`C_i`$ in silicon are strongly dependent on the growth technique. In high purity Float Zone Si, oxygen interstitial concentrations are around $`10^{15}`$ cm-3, while in Czochralski Si these concentrations can reach values as high as $`10^{18}`$ cm-3. Because Czochralski silicon is not available in detector grade quality, an oxygenation technique developed at BNL produces Diffusion Oxygenated Float Zone in silicon, obtaining a $`O_i`$ concentration of the order 5x1017 cm-3. These materials can be enriched in substitutional carbon up to 1.8x1016 cm-3.

After the irradiation of silicon, the following stable defects have been identified (see References ): $`Si_i`$, $`VP`$, $`VO`$, $`V_2`$, $`V_2O`$, $`C_iO_i`$, $`C_i`$, $`C_iC_s`$. The pre-existing thermal defects and those produced by irradiation, as well as the impurities, are assumed to be randomly distributed in the solid. An important part of the vacancies and interstitials annihilate. The sample contains certain concentrations of impurities, which can trap interstitials and vacancies respectively, and form stable defects.

Vacancy-interstitial annihilation, interstitial migration to sinks, divacancy, vacancy and interstitial impurity complex formation are considered. The role of phosphorus, oxygen and carbon is taken into account, and the following stable defects : $`VP`$, $`VO`$, $`V_2`$, $`V_2O`$, $`C_iO_i`$, $`C_i`$, $`C_iC_s`$ are considered. Other possible defects as $`V_3O`$, $`V_2O_2`$, $`V_3O_3`$ , are not included in the present model.

The following picture describes in terms of chemical reactions the mechanisms of production and evolution of the defects considered in the present paper:

$$V+I_\stackrel{}{G}^{\underset{}{K_1}}\text{annihilation}$$
(4)
$$I\stackrel{K_2}{}\text{sinks}$$
(5)
$$V+O_{\stackrel{}{K_4}}^{\underset{}{K_3}}VO$$
(6)
$`VO`$ is the $`A`$ centre.

$$V+P_{\stackrel{}{K_5}}^{\underset{}{K_3}}VP$$
(7)
$`VP`$ is the $`E`$ centre.

$$V+V_{\stackrel{}{K_6}}^{\underset{}{K_3}}V_2$$
(8)
$$V+VO_{\stackrel{}{K_7}}^{\underset{}{K_3}}V_2O$$
(9)
$$I+C_s\stackrel{K_1}{}C_i$$
(10)
$$C_i+O_i\stackrel{K_8}{}C_iO_i$$
(11)
$$A+I\stackrel{K_9}{}O$$
(12)
$$C_i+C_s\stackrel{K_8}{}C_iC_s$$
(13)
Some considerations about the determination of the reaction constants are given in references .

The reaction constants $`K_i`$ (i = 1, $`3÷9`$) have the general form:

$$K_i=C\nu \mathrm{exp}\left(E_i/k_BT\right)$$
(14)
with $`\nu `$ the vibration frequency of the lattice, $`E_i`$ the associated activation energy and $`C`$ a numerical constant that accounts for the symmetry of the defect in the lattice.

The reaction constant related to the migration of interstitials to sinks could be expressed as:

$$K_2=\alpha \nu \lambda ^2\mathrm{exp}\left(E_2/k_BT\right)$$
(15)
with $`\alpha `$ the sink concentration and $`\lambda `$ the jump distance.

The system of coupled differential equations corresponding to the reaction scheme (4) $`÷`$ (13) cannot be solved analytically and a numerical procedure was used.

The following values of the parameters have been used: $`E_1`$=$`E_2`$ = 0.4 eV, $`E_3`$ = 0.8 eV, $`E_4`$ = 1.4 eV, $`E_5`$ = 1.1 eV, $`E_6`$ = 1.3 eV, $`E_7`$ = 1.6 eV, $`E_8`$ = 0.8 eV, $`E_9`$ = 1.7 eV, $`\nu `$ = 1013 Hz, $`\lambda `$ = 1015 cm2, $`\alpha `$ = 1010 cm-2, in accord with standard constants characterising the silicon material, see for example the books of Lannoo and Bourgoin  or Damask and Dienes .

## 4 Results, discussion, comparison with experimental data and predictions

The formation and time evolution of stable defects depends on various factors, e.g. the concentrations of impurities pre-existent in the sample, the rate of generation, and the temperature.

In Figures 2 a $`÷`$ f, and 3 a $`÷`$ f the formation and time evolution of the vacancy-oxygen, vacancy-phosphorus, divacancy, divacancy-oxygen, carbon interstitial - oxygen interstitial and carbon interstitial.- carbon substitutional are modelled in silicon containing different initial concentrations of phosphorus, oxygen and carbon, and for two very different rates of generation.

In Figure 2, the evolution of defect concentrations during high rate irradiation ($`G_R`$ = 7x108 $`VI`$ pairs/cm3s) is presented. This corresponds, in the model hypothesis, to order of magnitude of the radiation levels estimated for the forward tracker region at the future LHC accelerator.

The increase of the initial oxygen concentration in silicon, from 2x1015 O/cm3 to 4x1017 O/cm3, conduces, after ten years of operation in the field characterised by a high and constant generation rate, to the increase of the concentrations of $`VO`$ and $`C_iO_i`$ centres, and to the decrease of the concentrations of $`V_2`$, $`VP`$ and $`C_iC_s`$ ones. With the increase of oxygen concentration, a variation of the $`V_2O`$ generation rate is observed, so that, from the studied cases, the maximum concentration for this defect is obtained for 5x1016 O/cm3 initial oxygen. The increase of initial phosphorus is seen in the increase of concentration of $`VP`$ centres, while the increase of initial carbon concentration has important consequences on the concentrations of $`C_iC_s`$ centres. It is interesting to observe that in almost all cases, an equilibrium in reached between generation and annealing, and a plateau is obtained in the time dependence of the concentrations. The slowest is, in this respect, $`V_2O`$, that has the highest binding energy.

As underlined above, vacancy-oxygen formation in oxygen enriched silicon is favoured in respect to the generation of $`V_2`$, $`V_2O`$ and $`VP`$. This is an important feature that could be used for detector applications, determining the decrease of the leakage current . At high oxygen concentrations, the concentration of $`VO`$ centres attains a plateau during the 10 years period considered.

The other extreme situation corresponds to a generation rate $`G_R`$ = 200 $`VI`$ pairs/cm3s, equivalent with a rate of defect production by protons from the cosmic ray spectra in the orbit near the Earth, at about 400 Km, as will be the position of the International Space Station. The same concentrations of $`P`$, $`O`$ and $`C`$ have been considered as pre-existent in silicon as in Figure 2. For this generation rate, the increase of the oxygen concentration produces the decrease of the concentration of all centres, with the exception of the $`VO`$ concentration, that, at these rates, it is not influenced by the oxygen content, and of the $`C_iO_i`$ concentration, where an increase is observed. As could be seen from Figure 3, as a consequence of the small rate of generation rate of vacancy - interstitial pairs, after ten years of operation the equilibrium between generation and annealing is not reached, the concentrations of defects being, with the exception of $`VP`$ (that has a relatively low binding energy), slightly increasing functions of time.

All curves, both from Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, have been calculated for 20oC temperature. Thermal generation has been taken into account in both cases, although it is important only for the silicon exposed to low rates of defect production.

The influence of the generation rate of primary defects on the concentration of stable defects and on their time evolution has also been investigated. In Figure 4 a $`÷`$ f, the time evolution of the $`VO`$, $`VP`$, $`V_2`$, $`V_2O`$, $`C_iO_i`$ and $`C_iC_s`$ concentrations is presented for six decades of generation rates of defects ($`G_R`$=7x10$`{}_{}{}^{5}÷`$ 7x1010 $`VI`$ pairs/cm$`{}_{}{}^{3}s`$), for silicon containing the following concentrations of impurities: 1014 P/cm3, 1016 O/cm3, and 3 1015 C/cm3 at 20oC temperature. At small times, the curves corresponding to different generation rates are all parallel and equidistant in a log-log representation. Starting from the highest generation rates, they start to increase slower ($`V_2`$, $`VP`$), attain a plateau $`V_2O`$, or event start to decrease ($`VO`$, $`C_iO_i`$, $`C_iC_s`$. The maximum attained can be the same, independent on the generation rate as is the case of $`VO`$ concentration, or could be generation dependent $`C_iO_i`$, $`C_iC_s`$.

The temperature is another important factor determining the time evolution of defects. In Figure 5 a $`÷`$ f and 6 a $`÷`$ f, the effect of the temperature is studied for the same generation rates of primary defects as in Figures 2 and 3 respectively, for five temperatures: 20oC, 10oC, 0oC, -10oC, and -20oC. The concentrations of pre-existing impurities in silicon are as follows: 1014 P/cm3, 1016 O/cm3, and 3x1015 C/cm3. The decrease of the temperature decreases the generation rate of stable defects, with the exception of $`VP`$, where the highest values correspond to the lowest temperature. The maximum values of the $`VO`$ concentration are temperature independent; the values of the concentration on the plateau decrease with the decrease of temperature for $`C_iO_i`$ and $`C_iC_s`$ and increase for $`V_2O`$.

For silicon exposed to low rates of defect production the same amount of time (Figure 6), the process of defect production in slowed down. The most unexpected time dependence is for $`V_2`$, that has the highest values at the lowest temperature.

In a previous paper , we demonstrated in concrete cases the importance of the sequence of irradiation process, considering that the same total fluence can be attained in different situations: the ideal case of instantaneous irradiation, irradiation in a single pulse followed by relaxation, and respectively continuos irradiation process. As expected, after instantaneous irradiation the concentrations of defects are higher in respect with ”gradual” irradiation.

After this analysis, the specific importance of the irradiation and annealing history (initial material parameters, type of irradiation particles, energetic source spectra, flux, irradiation temperature, measurement temperature, temperature and time between irradiation and measurement) on defect evolution must be to underline.

The model predictions have been compared with experimental measurements. A difficulty in this comparison is the insufficient information in published papers regarding the characterisation of silicon, and on the irradiation parameters and conditions for most of the data.

It was underlined in the literature  that the ratio of $`VO`$ to $`VP`$ centres in electron irradiated silicon is proportional to the ratio between the concentrations of oxygen and phosphorus in the sample. For electron irradiation, in Ref.  a linear dependence of the $`V_2`$ versus $`VO`$ centre concentration has been found experimentally. In the present paper, the ratio of concentrations of $`V_2`$ to $`VO`$ centres and $`VO`$ to $`VP`$ ones has been calculated in the frame of the model, for the material with the characteristics specified in Ref. , and irradiated with 12 MeV electrons, in the conditions of the above mentioned article. The time dependence of these two ratios is represented in Figure 7. Annealing is considered both during and after irradiation. It could be seen that for the ratio of $`V_2`$ and $`VO`$ concentrations the curves corresponding to different irradiation fluences are parallel, while the ratio of $`VO`$ to $`VP`$ concentrations is fluence independent, in the interval 2x10$`{}_{}{}^{13}÷`$ 5.5x1014 cm-2, in good agreement with the experimental evidence. The ratio between $`V_2`$ and $`VO`$ concentrations is determined by the generation of primary defects by irradiation, while the ratio between $`VO`$ and $`VP`$ concentrations is determined by the concentrations of oxygen and phosphorus in silicon.

Our estimations are also in agreement with the measurements presented in reference , after electron irradiation, where defect concentrations are presented as a function of the time after irradiation. In Figure 8, both measured and calculated dependencies of the $`VO`$ and $`VP`$ concentrations are given. The irradiation was performed with 2.5 MeV electrons, up to a fluence of 3x1016 e/cm2. A good agreement can be observed for these concentrations. The dependencies put in evidence the important role played by the carbon-related defects. The relative values are imposed by the arbitrary units of experimental data.

Also, a good agreement has been obtained between the absolute values of concentrations of $`VP+V_2`$ and $`C_iC_s`$ predicted by the model, and the experimental results after neutron irradiation at a total fluence of 5.67x1013 cm-2, reported in reference . The calculated 1.5x1013 cm-3 and 4.1x1012 cm-3 concentrations for $`VP+V_2`$ and $`C_iC_s`$ respectively, are in accord with the values of 1.1x1013 cm-3 and 3.8x1012 cm-3, measured experimentally. For the $`VO`$ concentration, a poorer concordance has been obtained.

## 5 Summary

A phenomenological model that describes silicon degradation due to irradiation from the point of view of the kinetics of produced defects toward equilibrium was developed.

The production of primary defects (vacancies and interstitials) in the silicon bulk was considered in the frame of the Lindhard theory, and the peculiarities of the particle - silicon nuclei interaction were taken into account.

The mechanisms of formation of stable defects and their evolution toward equilibrium was modelled, and the concentrations of defects were calculated solving numerically the system of coupled differential equations for these processes. Vacancy-interstitial annihilation, interstitial migration to sinks, vacancy-impurities complexes ($`VP`$, $`VO`$, $`V_2O`$, $`C_iO_i`$, $`C_iC_s`$), and divacancy formation were considered in different irradiation conditions, for different concentrations of impurities in the initial semiconductor, in the temperature range $`20÷+20^oC`$.

The calculated results suggest the importance of the conditions of irradiation, temperature and annealing history.

The model supports the experimental studies performed to investigate the influence of oxygen in the enhancement of the radiation hardness of silicon for detectors. The $`VO`$ defects in oxygen enriched silicon are favoured in respect to the other stable defects, so, for detector applications it is expected that the leakage current decreases after irradiation. At high oxygen concentrations, this defect saturates starting from low fluences at high generation rates of defects.


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# The Pseudogap Challenge: Understanding the 𝑎𝑏 Plane AC Conductivity below 𝑇_𝑐

## Abstract

We establish that the cuprate pseudogap plays a crucial role in the $`ab`$-plane optical conductivity $`\sigma (\omega ,T)`$ for temperatures $`TT_c`$. The pseudogap signatures in $`\sigma (\omega ,T)`$ associated with competing proposals of a “hidden order” and “superconducting” origin for the $`d_{x^2y^2}`$ pseudogap are found to differ in their qualitative $`\omega ,T`$ dependences. For the latter case, as $`T`$ increases from $`0`$, excess low $`\omega `$ weight appears; moreover, a much wider range of $`\omega `$ contributes to form the condensate. We discuss these theories in light of current experiments.

While a major fraction of the cuprate phase diagram has been found to be associated with a pseudogap there is still no definitive explanation for the origin of this anomalous phase. Here normal state thermodynamic and transport properties exhibit an excitation gap of $`d`$-wave symmetry (with onset at temperature $`T^{}`$) which appears to be continuous with the excitation gap of the superconducting phase (with onset at $`T_cT^{}`$). Theoretical schools for addressing this phenomenon fall roughly into two camps in which this pseudogap derives from (i.e., is “intrinsic”) or is independent of (i.e.,“extrinsic” to) the superconductivity. Despite its clear presence in thermodynamical and transport data, mysteriously, experimentsTimusk  on the in-plane electrodynamics show few conspicuous signatures of the pseudogap. In this paper we demonstrate how, in both theoretical schools, the pseudogap enters as a rearrangement, relative to BCS predictions, of spectral weight in $`\text{Re}\sigma (\omega )=\sigma _1(\omega )`$. Moreover, we suggest that it is the width of the range of frequencies contributing to form the condensate which provides a most effective criterion, both for descriminating between theoretical approaches, and for direct comparison with the data. The experimental observationvanderMarel ; Bontemps2  that (in the underdoped regime), relatively high $`\omega `$ participate in the condensate poses a serious challenge for both strict BCS theory and the extrinsic school.

Strict BCS theory is overly constrained because it contains a single energy scale. Nevertheless, we argue here that a mean field theoretic approach is appropriate because of (1) the notable similarity of many (but not all) measured properties to their BCS predictions. (2) the very narrow critical regime, and (3) the large separation between $`T^{}`$ and $`T_c`$ (which appears to be too big to derive from fluctuations around strict BCS theory). Moreover, the electromagnetic response of the superconducting state can be readily formulated at this generalized mean field level. In the standard formulation, the imaginary axis conductivity is written as $`\sigma _{ab}(Q)=\frac{e^2}{i(i\omega _n)}\left[P_{ab}(Q)n_{ab}\right]`$ where $`Q=(𝐪=0,i\omega _n)`$. We define Green’s functions

$$G(K)=\frac{i\omega _n^{}+ϵ_𝐤\mu }{\omega _n^2+E_𝐤^2}F(K)=\frac{𝚫_𝐤}{\omega _n^2+E_𝐤^2}$$
(1)
$$E_𝐤^2=(ϵ_𝐤\mu )^2+(𝚫_𝐤)^2$$
(2)
Here $`ϵ_𝐤`$ refers to a generalized “band structure”, which may differ from the bare hopping dispersion $`\xi _𝐤=2t(\mathrm{cos}k_x+\mathrm{cos}k_y)`$, whereas $`𝚫_𝐤`$ refers to a generalized “gap” parameter, whose $`𝐤`$-dependence we separate as $`𝚫_𝐤=𝚫\phi _𝐤`$ with $`\phi _𝐤=\mathrm{cos}(k_x)\mathrm{cos}(k_y)`$ for $`d`$-wave pairing.

The quasiparticle velocity $`v_a=_aϵ_𝐤`$ leads to

$`n_{ab}`$ $`=`$ $`2{\displaystyle \underset{K}{}}[_aϵ_𝐤_bϵ_𝐤(FFGG)`$ (3)
$`+`$ $`2_aϵ_𝐤_b𝚫_𝐤FG].`$
BCS theory predicts the response $`P_{ab}^{\mathrm{BCS}}(Q)=2_K_aϵ_𝐤_bϵ_𝐤(GG_++FF_+)`$ (where $`G=G(K)`$, $`G_+=G(K+Q)`$, and similarly for $`F`$,) so that the general expression for the superfluid density $`\left(n_s\right)_{ab}=n_{ab}P_{ab}(0)`$ reduces in the BCS case (omitting tensor indices) to

$$n_s^{\mathrm{BCS}}=4\underset{K}{}(_aϵ_𝐤_bϵ_𝐤FF+_aϵ_𝐤_b𝚫_𝐤FG)$$
(4)
Since in BCS theory there is only one energy scale, one identifies $`𝚫`$ as $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{sc}=\mathrm{\Delta }`$, and $`n_s`$ vanishes only when the excitation gap vanishes. More correctly, it should be clear that the superfluid density must necessarily reflect the superconducting order parameter $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{sc}`$ which may be distinguished from the total excitation gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, so that $`n_s(T)(\mathrm{\Delta }_{sc}(T))^2`$. This serves to underline a major shortcomingJelena  of strict BCS theory.

The simplest mean field pseudogap approach (case (i)) is referred to as “rescaled BCS theory”Berlinsky . Here, the single energy scale framework of BCS theory $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{sc}=\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is preserved while modifying the response by a frequency-independent factor as $`P_{ab}=\gamma (T)P_{ab}^{\mathrm{BCS}}`$. This enhancement causes $`n_s`$ to vanish at $`T_c`$ lower than $`T^{}`$. The factor $`\gamma (T)`$ is related to the suppression of the superfluid $`n_s=f(T)n_s^{\mathrm{BCS}}`$ by the sum rule constraint $`\gamma (T)=\frac{n}{nn_s^{\mathrm{BCS}}(T)}(1f(T))+f(T)`$, with $`f(T)`$ chosen to vanish at $`T_c`$ and fitted to $`n_s(T)`$. The microscopic physics of this otherwise phenomenological scheme is presumably connected to the approach of Lee and WenLeeWen ; $`\gamma `$ may also reflect the renormalization of electron charge as can occur in Fermi-liquid based approaches to the superconducting stateMillis\_review . In overdoped samples with $`T_c=T^{}`$, BCS theory works well, i.e., $`f(T)=1`$.

Alternatively, one may argue that $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{sc}\mathrm{\Delta }`$, so that at the mean field level, the gap and the order parameter are distinct. The extrinsic school introduces a pseudogap $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{pg}`$ directly into the quasi-particle bandstructure $`ϵ_𝐤`$ and defines $`𝚫\mathrm{\Delta }_{sc}`$ in the above mean field formalism, yielding $`n_s\mathrm{\Delta }_{sc}^2`$ via Eq. (4). Below $`T_c`$, Eq. (2) shows that in this school the dispersion of the fermionic quasi-particles has no simply defined BCS-like excitation gap. However, in this paper (as elsewhereLoram ) we will assume that one can define a meaningful excitation gap for the extrinsic case as $`\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤\sqrt{(\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤^{pg})^2+(\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤^{sc})^2}`$. We implement this picture by introducing an additional order parameter which breaks translation symmetry, leading to two bands $`ϵ_𝐤^\pm =\pm \sqrt{\xi _𝐤^2+(\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤^{pg})^2}`$. The precise superfluid density expression is slightly more complicated than Eq. (4) due to interband effects.DDW\_rhos  While we calculate $`P_{ab}`$ for a $`d`$-density waveLaughlin ; Nayak  (DDW) here, we argue that our results are generic, applying to other extrinsic pseudogap theories.Loram ; Nozieres2  The Green’s functions $`F^\pm ,G^\pm `$ for the two bands are obtained from Eq. (1), (2) by replacing $`ϵ_𝐤`$ with $`ϵ_𝐤^\pm `$. For the $`d`$-density-wave/superconducting coexistent state, we find

$`P_{ab}(Q)`$ $`=`$ $`2{\displaystyle \underset{K,\nu =\pm }{\overset{}{}}}[v_a^{(1)}v_b^{(1)}(G^\nu G_+^\nu +F^\nu F_+^\nu )`$
$`+`$ $`v_a^{(2)}v_b^{(2)}(G^\nu G_+^\nu +F^\nu F_+^\nu )]`$
where momentum is summed over the half Brillouin zone, $`\nu `$ is the band index, $`v_a^{(1)}=_aϵ_𝐤`$, and $`v_a^{(2)}=(\xi _𝐤_a\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤^{pg}\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤^{pg}_a\xi _𝐤)/ϵ_𝐤`$.

Finally, we consider a third mean field alternative (iii) in which the pseudogap is intrinsically connected with the superconductivityChen2 . In this picture $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{pg}`$ is associated with a stronger-than-BCS attractive interaction, so that (finite momentum) pairs form at a higher temperature $`T^{}`$ than that at which they Bose condense ($`T_c`$). Here the pseudogap enters on the same footing as the superconducting order parameter, and the fermionic dispersion is given by Eq. (2) with the value of $`𝚫_𝐤`$ assigned to be $`\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤`$, and $`ϵ_𝐤=\xi _𝐤`$. In this last approach, which has a detailed microscopic basisChen2 , the superfluid density has the form

$$n_s=[\mathrm{\Delta }_{sc}^2/\mathrm{\Delta }^2]n_s^{\mathrm{BCS}};\mathrm{\Delta }=\sqrt{(\mathrm{\Delta }^{pg})^2+(\mathrm{\Delta }^{sc})^2}.$$
(6)
The corresponding electromagnetic response is the sum of fermionic (BCS, with full gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }(T)`$) and bosonic contributions

$`P_{ab}(Q)`$ $`=`$ $`2{\displaystyle \underset{K}{}}_a\xi _𝐤_b\xi _𝐤(FF_++GG_+)`$ (7)
$`+`$ $`A{\displaystyle \underset{P}{}}_a\mathrm{\Omega }_p_b\mathrm{\Omega }_pt^{pg}(P)t^{pg}(P+Q)`$
Here we have approximatedVarlamov  the second bosonic term, which originates from an Aslamzov-Larkin diagrams)AL\_diagrams . It represents the coupling of radiation to uncondensed pairs of charge-2$`e`$ responsible for suppressing $`n_s`$ relative to $`n_s^{BCS}`$. The pairs have a propagator $`t_{pg}(P)`$, which at small $`P`$ can be parameterized as $`t_{pg}^1(p,\omega )=\omega (1+i\nu )\mathrm{\Omega }_p`$ (after continuation to real frequency $`\omega `$.) Here $`\mathrm{\Omega }_p=p^2/2M`$ and the pair chemical potential is zero for $`TT_c`$. While our microsopic theoryKosztin1  yields the pair mass $`M`$ and lifetime parameter associated with $`\nu `$, the diagrammatic calculations can be avoided by borrowing from general TDGL formulationsSchmidt  which describe the hydrodynamics of non-condensed bosons. In particular, the optical sum rule constrains the conductivity spectral weight of this boson contribution to be $`n_s^{\text{boson}}=[\mathrm{\Delta }_{pg}^2/\mathrm{\Delta }^2]n_s^{\mathrm{BCS}}`$, determining the prefactor $`A`$.

In the intrinsic school the condensate ($`\mathrm{\Delta }_{sc}`$) grows with decreasing $`T`$ at the expense of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{pg}`$ as the fraction of (quasi-ideal Bose gas) finite momentum pair excitations decreases. Precisely at $`T=0`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{pg}`$ vanishes and the ground state is given by the BCS generalization first proposed in Ref. Leggett, . By contrast, in the extrinsic model $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{pg}`$ is relatively $`T`$ independent below $`T_c`$ in the underdoped regime. One can summarize: to a good approximation, for the intrinsic modelChen2  (case (iii)) $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{pg}^2(T)\mathrm{\Delta }^2(T_c)(T/T_c)^{3/2}`$, whereas for the extrinsic model (case (ii)) at low doping $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{pg}^2(T)\mathrm{\Delta }_{pg}^2(T_c)`$.

The following calculations for $`\sigma _1(\omega )`$ address an underdoped (UD) and a slightly over-doped (OD) cuprate with hole concentration $`x`$ quantified by excitation gap ratio $`\mathrm{\Delta }(T_c)/\mathrm{\Delta }(0)`$ which assumes the values 0.99 and 0.5 respectively. This corresponds roughly to $`x0.06`$ and $`x.17`$. The two quantities $`n_s(0)/\mathrm{\Delta }(0)`$ and $`T_c/T^{}`$ were computed within each microscopic theory and roughly fit to experiment. We presume that the temperature dependence of the full excitation gap for $`TT_c`$ is given by the BCS $`d`$-wave result, so that $`\mathrm{\Delta }(0)/T^{}`$ is a universal number, as seems to be the case experimentallyOda . We include scattering from random non-magnetic impurities by renormalizing $`F`$ and $`G`$ in the above formulae,Ykao\_AG  and, for simplicity, compute the bosonic term in Eq(7) using standard TDGL resultsSchmidt . Following conventional procedures, Fehrenbacher  we pre-calculate a table of self-energies on the real frequency axis. We handle the complicated behavior of energy and $`𝐤`$ integrands using automatic 1d or 2d adaptive quadrature, determining $`\sigma _1`$ to 1% relative accuracy. While we have explored both Born and unitary limits, the computations are more tractible in the unitary limit, which we consider here with scattering potential $`u\delta (𝐫)`$, $`u/2t\mathrm{}`$, and with 0.01 impurities per unit cell. Our numerical calculations (1) conserve the integrated density of states, (2) conserve conductivity spectral weight, and (3) yield Lee\_limit  $`\sigma _1(T=0,\omega =0)=(2/\pi )2t/𝚫`$. Here and throughout we use conductance units $`e^2/h=1`$.

In the insets of Figures 1a and 2a are plotted the normalized superfluid densities for the intrinsic (iii) and extrinsic cases (ii) in the underdoped regime. The strict “BCS” curves for each case are chosen to have the same excitation gap parameter, so that $`n_s^{\mathrm{BCS}}`$ vanishes at $`T^{}`$. It is clear from the above discussion that the calculated superfluid density is depressed and vanishes at a lower temperature ($`T_c`$) than its BCS counterpart. Sum rule considerations thus indicate that there must be excess spectral weight in $`\sigma _1(\omega ,T)`$ at $`\omega 0`$ associated with pseudogap effects.

The frequency distribution of this excess spectral weight can be inferred from the plots in Figures 1 and 2 which show $`\sigma _1(\omega )`$ for the UD and OD hole concentrations at $`T=0`$ and $`T=T_c`$ in the intrinsic (solid lines) and extrinsic cases respectively. In Figures 1a, and 1c the rescaled BCS model (dotted lines) coincides with the solid curves at $`T=0`$ due to the complete condensation of the pseudogap. It is clear that in the intrinsic case the added pseudogap weight (present at any $`T0`$) appears at very low $`\omega `$, varying asSchmidt  $`1/\sqrt{\omega }`$, as well as at very high $`\omega `$ where it introduces a long tail associated with the fermion induced damping of non-condensed pairs. Interactions with the fermionic two particle continuum (which itself is gapped) constrains the bosonic lifetime. By contrast, in the extrinsic case the pseudogap is associated with a secondary maximum which appears at the energy scale $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{pg}(T_c)\mathrm{\Delta }(0)`$. This arises from interband effects Nayak  with threshold at $`\omega =2\mu `$.

It should be noted that a direct comparison of $`\sigma _1(\omega )`$ between theory and experiment is complicated because the origin of the so-called mid-infrared spectral weight is uncertainTanner , and because the ratio of the $`T=0`$ condensate to the total integrated spectral weight (at $`T_c`$) is anomalously small (20% or less)Tanner . Thus, we focus on the difference curves, and their associated integrals. We introduce the partially integrated spectral weight $`\mathrm{\Delta }N(\mathrm{\Omega })=\frac{1}{\pi }_0^\mathrm{\Omega }[\sigma _1(\omega ,T_c)\sigma _1(\omega ,0)]𝑑\omega `$, which is plotted in Figure 3 for the underdoped regime. This plot indicates which frequencies are required to account for the superfluid density in both the extrinsic and intrinsic cases.

Strikingly, the intrinsic pseudogap and rescaled BCS theories both show substantial contributions to the condensate up to relatively high frequencies of order 4 $`\mathrm{\Delta }(0)960`$cm-1 or more. By contrast, in the extrinsic school, the condensate derives from a much narrower range of frequencies. Since interband conductivity terms make a negligible condensate contribution, this observation holds even for extrinsic theories which lack interband effectsLoram ; Nozieres2 . An analogous narrowing of condensate frequencies occurs in strict BCS theory at low $`x`$ when $`\mathrm{\Delta }(T)`$ is properly chosen to be $`T`$ independent, so that the only relevant energy scales are the much lower $`T_c`$ and scattering rate.

For $`TT_c`$, inelastic scattering, which has been ignored in the above calculations, may affect any direct comparison between theory and experiment. This leads to non-monotonic $`\omega `$ dependences and is expected to be most important in the optimal and over-doped regime, where inelastic effects are strongly $`T`$ dependent below $`T_c`$, reflecting the $`T`$ dependence of $`\mathrm{\Delta }(T)`$. It follows, similarly, that in the underdoped regime where $`\mathrm{\Delta }(T)`$ is constant, inelastic effects should not contribute appreciably to $`\mathrm{\Delta }N`$.

Finally, it can be noted that the only, nevertheless ambiguousBontemps , evidence for a pseudogap appears in the experimental literatureTimusk  via Drude fits to $`\sigma (\omega )`$, where the resulting $`1/\tau (\omega )`$ is suppressed at frequency $`\omega _o600`$ cm-1. Because of its $`x`$ independence we speculate that $`\omega _o`$ may reflect a phonon or other bosonTimusk  with coupling modulated by the opening of an excitation gap. Although these secondary pseudogap effects are beyond the scope of this paper, we find here that Drude fits are quite generally problematic for cases (ii) and (iii) discussed here.

In summary, in this paper (i) we have investigated competing proposals for the pseudogap origin and have presented theoretical (and rather generic) mean field expressions for $`\sigma (\omega )`$. (ii) Both major mean field pseudogap schools lead to the prediction that pseudogap effects must enter as a rearrangement of excess spectral weight (relative to strict BCS theory predictions) in the ac conductivity. For the intrinsic school, there is a rapid growth in $`\sigma _1`$ with increasing low $`T`$, at fixed low frequencies (which may have been observed experimentallyBonn ), as well as long high $`\omega `$ tails, (possibly also observedvanderMarel ; Bontemps2 ) which tails become more pronounced with increasing $`T`$. While for the extrinsic school, there is a transfer of spectral weight from low to high $`\omega `$. However, here the resulting secondary maximum is present at all $`TT^{}`$ and does not participate in the condensation. Direct comparison with experimental data is made complex by the small integrated spectral weight in the condensate and our neglect of inelastic scatteringTanner . Therefore, we have focused on the condensing portion of the spectral weight by considering the change in $`\sigma _1(\omega )`$ from $`0`$ to $`T_c`$. (iv) We find that when $`\mathrm{\Delta }(T)`$ const, strict BCS theory cannot account for the relatively high ($`4\mathrm{\Delta }(0)`$) frequency scale associated with the condensate. The extrinsic approach suffers from a similar problem. In an artificial way rescaled BCS theory remedies this weakness. However, the observed high frequency contributions arise naturally in an intrinsic model; their presence reflects the underlying scattering of non-condensed bosons from the two particle fermionic states.

This work was supported by NSF-MRSEC Grant No. DMR-9808595 (AI, JS, KL) and by NSERC of Canada and Research Corporation (YK). We especially thank Qijin Chen for useful discussions and are grateful to D. Basov, N. Bontemps, J. Carbotte and Shi-Na Tan for multiple conversations, and to W. Putikka and E. Schachinger for consultation regarding numerical techniques.


text:
# The First RHIC Spin Run–at PHENIX and PP2PP

## 1 Introduction

The spin program of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at BNL collides polarized proton beams from $`\sqrt{s}=50`$ GeV to $`500`$ GeV, with expected luminosity of $`L=2\times 10^{32}`$ cm-2 s-1 for the top energy collisions. At these energies and luminosity, the collisions at high transverse momentum can be described as collisions of polarized partons, quarks and gluons, where the polarized quarks and gluons of the protons in one beam probe the spin structure of the protons in the other beam. RHIC spin provides a new laboratory to study the proton, compared to earlier and ongoing extensive studies of nucleon spin structure using polarized lepton beams incident on polarized proton and neutron targets. The earlier lepton studies gave us the major surprise that on average only about 25% of the proton spin is carried by the quarks and antiquarks in the proton. Since the lepton experiments probe the nucleon via a virtual photon, these deep inelastic lepton experiments are sensitive to the quark distributions through electric charge, and are not directly sensitive to the gluon contribution to the proton spin. With the strongly interacting quark and gluon probes at RHIC, a major focus of our program is to measure the gluon polarization through the deep inelastic scattering of polarized quarks from polarized protons. Reference $`^\mathrm{?}`$ previews the RHIC spin program.

The cross section for the collision of high energy polarized protons, producing particles at large $`p_T`$, factorizes similarly to the perturbative QCD description of unpolarized proton-antiproton collisions at the Tevatron, for example. When an asymmetry is formed by comparing the cross section for particles produced for collisions of protons with the same helicities, with the cross section for particles produced for differing beam helicities, we can directly measure the proton spin structure.

We will now describe the first RHIC spin run.

## 2 Accelerating and Measuring Polarization

A schematic of the RHIC spin complex is shown on the left side of Figure 1. Each independent RHIC ring, referred to as the blue and yellow rings, was loaded in this first run with 55 bunches of polarized protons, at 24 GeV, and then accelerated to 100 GeV. The bunches were loaded with different patterns of alternating polarization sign, with three bunches with zero polarization, so that the collisions at the experiments included the combinations ($`++`$,$`+`$,$`+`$,$``$,$`00`$) where the signs refer to (blue,yellow) polarization sign for the colliding bunches.

The polarization was measured using separate polarimeters in the blue and yellow rings, which scattered the polarized protons from an ultra-thin carbon ribbon which could be inserted into the RHIC beams. Scattering in the coulomb-nuclear interference region is sensitive to the polarization, and the right side of Figure 1 shows the measured asymmetries from the polarimeters, along with the beam intensities, for a several hour period. Several RHIC fills are seen in the figure. When the intensity is seen to rise, the RHIC ring is being filled with 55 bunches at 24 GeV. An asymmetry measurement just after filling is made at injection energy. During the acceleration to 100 GeV, some beam is lost and the intensity is seen to reduce. Measurements of the asymmetry are then made, typically every 2 hours, on the stored 100 GeV beams. When we compare the polarization measurements at 24 GeV, before acceleration, and at 100 GeV, the asymmetry is comparable. This is the first use of Siberian Snakes at high energy, and the polarization was maintained for acceleration through roughly 150 depolarizing resonances up to 100 GeV, with no adjustment to the Snakes. The polarization, using the analyzing power from 24 GeV, was 20% for this run.

## 3 The Physics of the First Run: PHENIX and PP2PP

The first run, completed this January, 2002, collided transversely polarized protons at $`\sqrt{s}=200`$ GeV, $`L=10^{30}`$ cm-2 s-1, $`P=0.2`$. Experiments measured cross sections and asymmetries for mid-rapidity and forward pion production, for proton-proton small angle elastic scattering. Bernd Surrow, in his presentation on the STAR experiment, discusses forward production. Here, we will present mid-rapidity and elastic scattering.

Measurements of the transverse spin asymmetry $`A_N`$ probe the transverse spin structure of the proton. Measurements were made for $`\pi ^0`$s and charged hadrons by PHENIX, for colliding transversely polarized protons. The PHENIX Experiment is one of the two large heavy ion/spin detectors at RHIC $`^\mathrm{?}`$. The experiment is a fast detector, featuring excellent photon and electron calorimetry at mid-rapidity, with tracking and RICH detectors, and muon arms in the forward direction from each beam. The electromagnetic calorimeters at mid-rapidity were used in the pp run to trigger on energy clusters above 1 GeV, and a large sample of high-$`p_T`$ $`\pi ^0`$s were collected. Figure 2, left, shows the PHENIX Preliminary result for the $`\pi ^0`$ cross section vs. $`p_T`$$`^\mathrm{?}`$. Also shown on the left figure is a perturbative NLO QCD calculation for the cross section $`^\mathrm{?}`$, with three factorization scales. This is not a fit. The agreement of the theory with the data shows that pQCD properly describes the production of pions at mid-rapidity at RHIC. This is important to the RHIC spin program, since it is the interpretation of pp scattering with factorization and pQCD which will allow us to extract information on the spin structure of the proton at RHIC. We note also the good agreement down to $`p_T`$=2 GeV/c, and the relatively small dependence on the factorization scale.

The right side of the figure shows the expected statistical significance of the measurement of the single spin transverse asymmetry $`A_N`$. The figure shows sensitivity at a 1% level. An asymmetry observed by the HERMES $`^\mathrm{?}`$ and SMC $`^\mathrm{?}`$ experiments, interpreted as transversity, would imply an of order 10% asymmetry at RHIC $`^\mathrm{?}`$. Also shown are dashed lines giving the error sizes vs. $`p_T`$ for a previous mid-rapidity measurement at much lower energy, E704 at Fermilab $`^\mathrm{?}`$. The theoretical model shown $`^\mathrm{?}`$ is for a higher twist effect, from quark-gluon correlations in the proton. This mid-rapidity measurement will probe a qualitatively new physics region for spin, in both energy and transverse momentum.

The PP2PP Experiment $`^\mathrm{?}`$ uses devices called Roman Pots to move silicon detectors close to the beams, after the beams are stored in RHIC. The experiment measures pp elastic scattering in the coulomb, coulomb-nuclear interference (CNI), and low to mid-t regions. In this run, the experiment used a 1-day store where the RHIC beams were severely scraped to reduce their emittance to allow the experiment to make measurements in the CNI region, for $`t>0.004`$ (GeV/c)2. These are the first pp measurements for $`\sqrt{s}=200`$ GeV, and the first for spin. Figure 3 shows a schematic of the location of the Roman Pots, left, and on the right side shows the observed correlation between the scattered proton position in one silicon detector near one beam vs. the scattered proton position for the other beam. This on-line result is remarkably clean, and the experiment expects to obtain the t-dependence and asymmetry $`A_N`$ from the run.

## 4 Plan and Conclusions

The gluon polarization will be measured at RHIC using direct photons, photon plus jet, and jets. Anti-quark and quark polarizations will be measured, identified by flavor, using parity-violating W boson production. These are the major focus of the RHIC spin program.

There are many other processes and probes planned. For the coming year, when luminosity, polarization and running time will still be at a premium, jet production should provide a first look at gluon polarization. Other processes are heavy quark production with spin, transversity measurements, fragmentation processes with spin, searches for new physics using parity violation, and many others. The program, described in $`^\mathrm{?}`$, is expected to take 5+ years of RHIC running, which consists of both heavy ion and polarized proton modes. This schedule does not include follow-on experiments to pursue exciting signals and new ideas.

We have important issues to solve to reach our goals: higher polarization and luminosity, and absolute calibration of the RHIC polarimeters. The polarization from the AGS was very low in our first run. To improve this, we will be using a much faster ramp rate in the AGS next year. We are building a fast polarimeter for the AGS based on the RHIC polarimeters to improve our identification of problem areas. We are also designing a new strong AGS partial Siberian Snake, available for 2005. For the luminosity, we need to gain a factor of 100 over this first run. Many of the anticipated improvement factors are straight forward, such as a factor 3 improvement using focusing a the interaction regions with $`\beta ^{}=1`$, already used for heavy ions, and a factor 2 from doubling the number of bunches. We will see.

In summary, the polarized proton program at RHIC has begun, we have some beautiful data, and we have a long, exciting road ahead.

## References