No Arabic abstract
In high-T$_{C}$ cuprates, superconductivity and charge density waves (CDW) are competitive, yet coexisting orders. To understand their microscopic interdependence a probe capable of discerning their interaction on its natural length and time scales is necessary. Here we use ultrafast resonant soft x-ray scattering to track the transient evolution of CDW correlations in YBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{6+x}$ following the quench of superconductivity by an infrared laser pulse. We observe a picosecond non-thermal response of the CDW order, characterized by a large enhancement of spatial coherence, nearly doubling the CDW correlation length, while only marginally affecting its amplitude. This ultrafast snapshot of the interaction between order parameters demonstrates that their competition manifests inhomogeneously through disruption of spatial coherence, and indicates the role of superconductivity in stabilizing topological defects within CDW domains.
Recently discovered Z2 topological kagome metals AV3Sb5 (A = K, Rb, and Cs) exhibit charge density wave (CDW) phases and novel superconducting paring states, providing a versatile platform for studying the interplay between electron correlation and quantum orders. Here we directly visualize CDW-induced bands renormalization and energy gaps in RbV3Sb5 using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, pointing to the key role of tuning van Hove singularities to the Fermi energy in mechanisms of ordering phases. Near the CDW transition temperature, the bands around the Brillouin zone (BZ) boundary are shifted to high-binding energy, forming an M-shape band with singularities near the Fermi energy. The Fermi surfaces are partially gapped and the electronic states on the residual ones should be possibly dedicated to the superconductivity. Our findings are significant in understanding CDW formation and its associated superconductivity.
The possibility to exploit quantum coherence to strongly enhance the efficiency of charge transport in solid state devices working at ambient conditions would pave the way to disruptive technological applications. In this work, we tackle the problem of the quantum transport of photogenerated electronic excitations subject to dephasing and on-site Coulomb interactions. We show that the transport to a continuum of states representing metallic collectors can be optimized by exploiting the superradiance phenomena. We demonstrate that this is a coherent effect which is robust against dephasing and electron-electron interactions in a parameters range that is compatible with actual implementation in few monolayers transition-metal-oxide (TMO) heterostructures.
We study low temperature electron transport in p-wave superconductor-insulator-normal metal junctions. In diffusive metals the p-wave component of the order parameter decays exponentially at distances larger than the mean free path $l$. At the superconductor-normal metal boundary, due to spin-orbit interaction, there is a triplet to singlet conversion of the superconducting order parameter. The singlet component survives at distances much larger than $l$ from the boundary. It is this component that controls the low temperature resistance of the junctions. As a result, the resistance of the system strongly depends on the angle between the insulating boundary and the ${bf d}$-vector characterizing the spin structure of the triplet superconducting order parameter. We also analyze the spatial dependence of the electric potential in the presence of the current, and show that the electric field is suppressed in the insulating boundary as well as in the normal metal at distances of order of the coherence length away from the boundary. This is very different from the case of the normal metal-insulator-normal metal junctions, where the voltage drop takes place predominantly at the insulator.
Although charge density wave (CDW) correlations appear to be a ubiquitous feature of the superconducting cuprates, their disparate properties suggest a crucial role for coupling or pinning of the CDW to lattice deformations and disorder. While diffraction intensities can demonstrate the occurrence of CDW domain formation, the lack of scattering phase information has limited our understanding of this process. Here, we report coherent resonant x-ray speckle correlation analysis, which directly determines the reproducibility of CDW domain patterns in La1.875Ba0.125CuO4 (LBCO 1/8) with thermal cycling. While CDW order is only observed below 54 K, where a structural phase transition results in equivalent Cu-O bonds, we discover remarkably reproducible CDW domain memory upon repeated cycling to temperatures well above that transition. That memory is only lost on cycling across the transition at 240(3) K that restores the four-fold symmetry of the copper-oxide planes. We infer that the structural-domain twinning pattern that develops below 240 K determines the CDW pinning landscape below 54 K. These results open a new view into the complex coupling between charge and lattice degrees of freedom in superconducting cuprates.
Topological insulators are a new class of materials, that exhibit robust gapless surface states protected by time-reversal symmetry. The interplay between such symmetry-protected topological surface states and symmetry-broken states (e.g. superconductivity) provides a platform for exploring novel quantum phenomena and new functionalities, such as 1D chiral or helical gapless Majorana fermions, and Majorana zero modes which may find application in fault-tolerant quantum computation. Inducing superconductivity on topological surface states is a prerequisite for their experimental realization. Here by growing high quality topological insulator Bi$_2$Se$_3$ films on a d-wave superconductor Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+delta}$ using molecular beam epitaxy, we are able to induce high temperature superconductivity on the surface states of Bi$_2$Se$_3$ films with a large pairing gap up to 15 meV. Interestingly, distinct from the d-wave pairing of Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+delta}$, the proximity-induced gap on the surface states is nearly isotropic and consistent with predominant s-wave pairing as revealed by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Our work could provide a critical step toward the realization of the long sought-after Majorana zero modes.