Detection of a Cooper-pair density wave in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x
- Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Physics
- 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
- 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
- Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States). Dept. of Physics. Lab. of Atomic and Solid State Physics
- Inst. of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba (Japan)
- Inst. of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba (Japan); Univ. of Tokyo (Japan). Dept. of Physics
- Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States). Dept. of Physics. Lab. of Atomic and Solid State Physics; Binghamton Univ., NY (United States). Dept. of Physics
- Univ. of St. Andrews, Scotland (United Kingdom). School of Physics and Astronomy; Max Planck Inst. for Chemical Physics of Solids, Dresden (Germany)
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Dept.
- 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 Laboratory (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); Moore Foundation (United States); Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC); 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; GBMF4544; EP/G03673X/1; IBS-R009-D1
- OSTI ID:
- 1341670
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-113397-2016-JA; R&D Project: PM007; KC0201010
- Journal Information:
- Nature (London), Vol. 532, Issue 7599; ISSN 0028-0836
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Web of Science
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