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Detection of a Cooper-pair density wave in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x

Journal Article · · Nature (London)
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17411· OSTI ID:1341670
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [4];  [8];  [9];  [3];  [10]
  1. Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Physics
  2. Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States). Dept. of Physics. Lab. of Atomic and Solid State Physics; Univ. of St. Andrews, Scotland (United Kingdom). School of Physics and Astronomy
  3. Seoul National Univ. (Korea, Republic of). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy. Inst. of Applied Physics; Inst. of Basic Science, Seoul (Korea, Republic of). Center for Correlated Electron Systems
  4. Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States). Dept. of Physics. Lab. of Atomic and Solid State Physics
  5. Inst. of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba (Japan)
  6. Inst. of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba (Japan); Univ. of Tokyo (Japan). Dept. of Physics
  7. Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States). Dept. of Physics. Lab. of Atomic and Solid State Physics; Binghamton Univ., NY (United States). Dept. of Physics
  8. Univ. of St. Andrews, Scotland (United Kingdom). School of Physics and Astronomy; Max Planck Inst. for Chemical Physics of Solids, Dresden (Germany)
  9. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Dept.
  10. Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States). Dept. of Physics. Lab. of Atomic and Solid State Physics. Kavli Inst. at Cornell for Nanoscale Science; Univ. of St. Andrews, Scotland (United Kingdom). School of Physics and Astronomy; Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Dept.

The quantum condensate of Cooper pairs forming a superconductor was originally conceived as being translationally invariant. In theory, however, pairs can exist with finite momentum Q, thus generating a state with a spatially modulated Cooper-pair density. Such a state has been created in ultracold 6Li gas but never observed directly in any superconductor. It is now widely hypothesized that the pseudogap phase of the copper oxide superconductors contains such a ‘pair density wave’ state. In this paper we report the use of nanometre-resolution scanned Josephson tunnelling microscopy to image Cooper pair tunnelling from a d-wave superconducting microscope tip to the condensate of the superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x. We demonstrate condensate visualization capabilities directly by using the Cooper-pair density variations surrounding zinc impurity atoms and at the Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x crystal supermodulation. Then, by using Fourier analysis of scanned Josephson tunnelling images, we discover the direct signature of a Cooper-pair density modulation at wavevectors QP ≈ (0.25, 0)2π/a0 and (0, 0.25)2π/a0 in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x. The amplitude of these modulations is about five per cent of the background condensate density and their form factor exhibits primarily s or s' symmetry. Finally, this phenomenology is consistent with Ginzburg–Landau theory when a charge density wave with d-symmetry form factor and wavevector QC = QP coexists with a d-symmetry superconductor; it is also predicted by several contemporary microscopic theories for the pseudogap phase.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States); Seoul National Univ. (Korea, Republic of); Univ. of St. Andrews, Scotland (United Kingdom); Inst. of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba (Japan)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22); Moore Foundation (United States); Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) (United Kingdom); Ministry of Science and Education (Japan); Institute for Basic Science (Korea, Republic of)
Contributing Organization:
Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States); Inst. of Basic Science, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Univ. of Tokyo (Japan); Binghamton Univ., NY (United States); Max Planck Inst. for Chemical Physics of Solids, Dresden (Germany)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-98CH10886; SC0010313
OSTI ID:
1341670
Report Number(s):
BNL--113397-2016-JA; KC0201010
Journal Information:
Nature (London), Journal Name: Nature (London) Journal Issue: 7599 Vol. 532; ISSN 0028-0836
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Topological superconductivity in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides journal April 2017
Evidence of pair-density wave in spin-valley locked systems journal March 2019
Quantum Engineered Kondo Lattices text January 2019
Hidden Pair-Density-Wave Order in Cuprate Superconductors journal January 2019
Diagonal nematicity in the pseudogap phase of HgBa2CuO4+δ journal July 2019
Quantum engineered Kondo lattices journal December 2019
Doping the holographic Mott insulator journal July 2018
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A strongly inhomogeneous superfluid in an iron-based superconductor journal July 2019
Electron pairing in the pseudogap state revealed by shot noise in copper oxide junctions journal August 2019
High-temperature superconductivity in monolayer Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ journal October 2019
Chiral superconductivity in heavy-fermion metal UTe2 journal March 2020
Evolution of Pairing Orders between Pseudogap and Superconducting Phases of Cuprate Superconductors journal February 2019
Magnetic phase diagram of underdoped YBa 2 Cu 3 O y inferred from torque magnetization and thermal conductivity journal October 2016
Quantum oscillations in a biaxial pair density wave state journal May 2018
Evidence for a vestigial nematic state in the cuprate pseudogap phase journal June 2019
Fulde–Ferrell state in superconducting core/shell nanowires: role of the orbital effect journal November 2017
Charge ordering in high-temperature superconductors visualized by scanning tunneling microscopy journal October 2019
Anomalies in the pseudogap phase of the cuprates: competing ground states and the role of umklapp scattering journal October 2019
Incommensurate charge ordered states in the tt ′– J model journal January 2017
Stability of the coexistent superconducting-nematic phase under the presence of intersite interactions journal June 2018
Coherent Multiple Charge Transfer in a Superconducting NbN Tunnel Junction journal June 2005
Odd-frequency pairing in a superconductor coupled to two parallel nanowires journal July 2019
Theory of triangular lattice quasi-one-dimensional charge-transfer solids journal September 2019
Intrinsic cluster-shaped density waves in cellular dynamical mean-field theory journal December 2019
Selective hybridization between the main band and the superstructure band in the Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8 + δ superconductor journal January 2020
Topological density-wave states in a particle-hole symmetric Weyl metal journal August 2016
Subgap structures and pseudogap in cuprate superconductors: Role of density waves journal February 2017
Effective SU(2) theory for the pseudogap state journal March 2017
Collective mode contributions to the Meissner effect: Fulde-Ferrell and pair-density wave superfluids journal June 2017
Dual gauge field theory of quantum liquid crystals in three dimensions journal October 2017
Correlation-driven metal-insulator transition in proximity to an iron-based superconductor journal November 2017
Multiparticle instability in a spin-imbalanced Fermi gas journal January 2018
Pair density waves in superconducting vortex halos journal May 2018
Valence transition model of the pseudogap, charge order, and superconductivity in electron-doped and hole-doped copper oxides journal November 2018
Coexistence of superconductivity and antiferromagnetism in the Hubbard model for cuprates journal May 2019
Remarkable Stability of Charge Density Wave Order in La 1.875 Ba 0.125 CuO 4 journal October 2016
Intertwined Order and Holography: The Case of Parity Breaking Pair Density Waves journal November 2017
Magnetic-Field Tuning of Light-Induced Superconductivity in Striped La 2 − x Ba x CuO 4 journal December 2018
Evidence for a Spatially Modulated Superfluid Phase of He 3 under Confinement journal February 2019
Pressure-Induced Collapse of the Charge Density Wave and Higgs Mode Visibility in 2 H − TaS 2 journal March 2019
Josephson Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy in d x 2 − y 2 -Wave Superconductors: A Probe for the Nature of the Pseudogap in the Cuprate Superconductors journal July 2019
Quasiclassical circuit theory of contiguous disordered multiband superconductors journal December 2019
Intertwined Orders in Heavy-Fermion Superconductor CeCoIn 5 journal December 2016
Ultrafast time-resolved x-ray scattering reveals diffusive charge order dynamics in La 2– x Ba x CuO 4 journal August 2019
Probing optically silent superfluid stripes in cuprates journal February 2018
Magnetic field–induced pair density wave state in the cuprate vortex halo journal June 2019
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Intertwined order and holography: the case of the parity breaking pair density wave text January 2017
Pair Density Waves in Superconducting Vortex Halos text January 2018
Quantum oscillations in a biaxial pair density wave state text January 2018
Magnetic-field Induced Pair Density Wave State in the Cuprate Vortex Halo text January 2018
Theory of triangular lattice quasi-one-dimensional charge-transfer solids text January 2019
Quasiclassical circuit-theory of contiguous disordered multiband superconductors text January 2019
Intrinsic Cluster-Shaped Density Waves in Cellular Dynamical Mean-Field Theory text January 2019


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