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Imaging the energy gap modulations of the cuprate pair-density-wave state

Journal Article · · Nature (London)
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [3];  [5];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
  2. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  3. Seoul National Univ. (Korea, Republic of)
  4. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  5. Univ. College Cork (Ireland); Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom)
+ Show Author Affiliations
The defining characteristic of Cooper pairs with finite center-of-mass momentum is a spatially modulating superconducting energy gap Δ(r). Recently, this concept has been generalized to the pair density wave (PDW) state predicted to exist in cuprates. Although the signature of a cuprate PDW has been detected in Cooperpair tunneling, the distinctive signature in single-electron tunneling of a periodic Δ(r) modulation has never been observed. Here, using a new approach, we discover strong Δ(r) modulations in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ that have eight-unit-cell periodicity or wavevectors Q ≈ (2π/a0)(1/8, 0) and Q ≈ (2π/a0)(0, 1/8). Simultaneous imaging of the localdensity- of-states N(r, E) reveals electronic modulations with wavevectors Q and 2Q, as anticipated when the PDW coexists with superconductivity. Finally, by visualizing the topological defects in these N(r, E) density waves at 2Q, we discover them to be concentrated in areas where the PDW spatial phase changes by !, as predicted by the theory of half-vortices in a PDW state. Overall, this is a compelling demonstration, from multiple single-electron signatures, of a PDW state coexisting with superconductivity in the canonical cuprate Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ.
Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012704
OSTI ID:
1615773
Report Number(s):
BNL--213873-2020-JAAM
Journal Information:
Nature (London), Journal Name: Nature (London) Journal Issue: 7801 Vol. 580; ISSN 0028-0836
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY