No Arabic abstract
In conventional superconductors, magnetic impurities form an impurity band due to quantum interference of the impurity bound states, leading to suppression of the superconducting transition temperature. Such quantum interference effects can also be expected in d-wave superconductors. Here, we use scanning tunneling microscopy to investigate the effect of multiple non-magnetic impurities on the local electronic structure of the high-temperature superconductor Bi$_{2}$Sr$_{2}$Ca(Cu$_{1-x}$Zn$_{x}$)$_{2}$O$_{8+delta}$. We find several fingerprints of quantum interference of the impurity bound states including: (i) a two-dimensional modulation of local density-of-states with a period of approximately 5.4 AA along the $a$- and $b$-axes, which is indicative of the d-wave superconducting nature of the cuprates; (ii) abrupt spatial variations of the impurity bound state energy; (iii)an appearance of positive energy states; (iv) a split of the impurity bound state. All of these findings provide important insight into how the impurity band in d-wave superconductors is formed.
Using Scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS), we report the correlation between spatial gap inhomogeneity and the zinc (Zn) impurity resonance in single crystals of Bi$_{mathrm{2}}$Sr$_{mathrm{2}}$Ca(Cu$_{mathrm{1-}x}$Zn$_{x}$)$_{mathrm{2}}$O$_{mathrm{8+}delta}$ with different carrier (hole) concentrations ($p$) at a fixed Zn concentration ($x$ $sim$ 0.5 % per Cu atom). In all the samples, the impurity resonance lies only in the region where the gap value is less than $sim$ 60 meV. Also the number of Zn resonance sites drastically decreases with decreasing $p$, in spite of the fixed $x$. These experimental results lead us to a conclusion that the Zn impurity resonance does not appear in the large gap region although the Zn impurity evidently resides in this region.
Single atom manipulation within doped correlated electron systems would be highly beneficial to disentangle the influence of dopants, structural defects and crystallographic characteristics on their local electronic states. Unfortunately, their high diffusion barrier prevents conventional manipulation techniques. Here, we demonstrate the possibility to reversibly manipulate select sites in the optimally doped high temperature superconductor Bi$_{2}$Sr$_{2}$CaCu$_{2}$O$_{8+x}$ using the local electric field of the tip. We show that upon shifting individual Bi atoms at the surface, the spectral gap associated with superconductivity is seen to reversibly change by as much as 15 meV (~5% of the total gap size). Our toy model that captures all observed characteristics suggests the field induces lateral movement of point-like objects that create a local pairing potential in the CuO2 plane.
A weakening of superconductivity upon substitution of Cu by Zn (0.5~1 %) is observed in a high-T_c cuprate, Ca_{2-x}Na_xCuO2Cl2, near the hole concentration of 1/8 per Cu. The superconducting transition temperature and its volume fraction, estimated by magnetic susceptibility, exhibit a sizable anomaly for x=0.12~0.14, where the slowing down of Cu spin fluctuations below 5 K is demonstrated by muon spin relaxation experiments. These observations are in close resemblance to other typical cuprates including YBa2Cu3O_{7-d}, and Bi2Sr2Ca_{1-x}Y_xCu2O_{8+d}, providing further evidence that Zn-induced stripe correlation is a universal feature of high-T_c cuprate superconductors common to that of La_{2-x}A_{x}CuO4 (A=Ba, Sr).
We report muon spin relaxation ($mu$SR) measurements of optimally-doped and overdoped Bi$_{2+x}$Sr$_{2-x}$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+delta}$ (Bi2212) single crystals that reveal the presence of a weak temperature-dependent quasi-static internal magnetic field of electronic origin in the superconducting (SC) and pseudogap (PG) phases. In both samples the internal magnetic field persists up to 160~K, but muon diffusion prevents following the evolution of the field to higher temperatures. We consider the evidence from our measurments in support of PG order parameter candidates, namely, electronic loop currents and magnetoelectric quadrupoles.
The quantum condensate of Cooper-pairs forming a superconductor was originally conceived to be translationally invariant. In theory, however, pairs can exist with finite momentum $Q$ and thereby generate states with spatially modulating Cooper-pair density. While never observed directly in any superconductor, such a state has been created in ultra-cold $^{6}$Li gas. It is now widely hypothesized that the cuprate pseudogap phase contains such a pair density wave (PDW) state. Here we use nanometer resolution scanned Josephson tunneling microscopy (SJTM) to image Cooper-pair tunneling from a $d$-wave superconducting STM tip to the condensate of Bi$_{2}$Sr$_{2}$CaCu$_{2}$O$_{8+x}$. Condensate visualization capabilities are demonstrated directly using the Cooper-pair density variations surrounding Zn impurity atoms and at the Bi$_{2}$Sr$_{2}$CaCu$_{2}$O$_{8+x}$ crystal-supermodulation. Then, by using Fourier analysis of SJTM images, we discover the direct signature of a Cooper-pair density modulation at wavevectors $Q_{p} approx (0.25,0)2pi / a_{0}$;$(0,0.25)2pi / a_{0}$ in Bi$_{2}$Sr$_{2}$CaCu$_{2}$O$_{8+x}$. The amplitude of these modulations is ~5% of the homogenous condensate density and their form factor exhibits primarily $s$/$s$-symmetry. This phenomenology is expected within Ginzburg-Landau theory when a charge density wave with $d$-symmetry form factor and wave vector $Q_{c}=Q_{p}$ coexists with a homogeneous $d$-symmetry superconductor ; it is also encompassed by several contemporary microscopic theories for the pseudogap phase.