Effects of nonmagnetic impurities on optical conductivity in strongly correlated systems

Abstract

Effects of nonmagnetic impurities on optical conductivity in the systems of antiferromagnetically correlated electrons are examined based on the Lanczos exact diagonalization scheme. As a result of resonant scattering a low-frequency peak in the optical conductivity is predicted to occur in the presence of the nonmagnetic impurities, which is consistent with the observed normal-state optical conductivity of ${\rm YBa_2}({\rm Cu}_{1-x}{\rm Zn}_x)_3{\rm O}_{7-\delta}$. In addition, a relatively high and broad peak is found to occur at a high frequency region as a consequence of the Heisenberg interaction between electrons, in agreement with observation in the peak position.