On the relationship between charge ordering and the Fermi arcs observed in underdoped high Tc superconductors

Abstract

We address the origin of the recently discovered close correspondence between the charge ordering wave vectors and the momentum-space separation between the tips of the Fermi arcs seen in angle-resolved photoemission measurements in underdoped high temperature superconducting cuprates. We calculate the Fermi surface spectral weight for a charge density-wave model, assuming a Fermi surface, charge ordering wave vectors and short correlation lengths similar to those found experimentally. We show that the observation of wavevectors spanning the tips of remnant Fermi surface sections signal Fermi surface reconstruction by charge order, similar to archetypal charge density wave materials, obviating the need to invoke pre-existing Fermi arcs as being unstable to charge ordering. Our findings suggest that charge ordering plays a central role in reconstructing the Fermi surface in underdoped cuprate superconductors.