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Identification of a nematic pair density wave state in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x

Journal Article · · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7]
  1. Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom)
  2. Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom); Univ. College Cork (Ireland)
  3. Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)
  4. National Inst. of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba (Japan)
  5. Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom); Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
  6. Univ. College Cork (Ireland)
  7. Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom); Univ. College Cork (Ireland); Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States); Max Planck Inst. for the Chemical Physics of Solids, Dresden (Germany)
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Electron-pair density wave (PDW) states are now an intense focus of research in the field of cuprate correlated superconductivity. PDWs exhibit periodically modulating superconductive electron pairing that can be visualized directly using scanned Josephson tunneling microscopy (SJTM). Although from theory, intertwining the d-wave superconducting (DSC) and PDW order parameters allows a plethora of global electron-pair orders to appear, which one actually occurs in the various cuprates is unknown. In this work, we use SJTM to visualize the interplay of PDW and DSC states in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x at a carrier density where the charge density wave modulations are virtually nonexistent. Simultaneous visualization of their amplitudes reveals that the intertwined PDW and DSC are mutually attractive states. Then, by separately imaging the electron-pair density modulations of the two orthogonal PDWs, we discover a robust nematic PDW state. Its spatial arrangement entails Ising domains of opposite nematicity, each consisting primarily of unidirectional and lattice commensurate electron-pair density modulations. Further, we demonstrate by direct imaging that the scattering resonances identifying Zn impurity atom sites occur predominantly within boundaries between these domains. This implies that the nematic PDW state is pinned by Zn atoms, as was recently proposed [Lozano et al., Phys. Rev. B 103, L020502 (2021)]. Taken in combination, these data indicate that the PDW in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x is a vestigial nematic pair density wave state [Agterberg et al. Phys. Rev. B 91, 054502 (2015); Wardh and Granath arXiv:2203.08250].
Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012704
OSTI ID:
1880771
Report Number(s):
BNL-223240-2022-JAAM
Journal Information:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Journal Name: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Journal Issue: 31 Vol. 119; ISSN 0027-8424
Publisher:
National Academy of SciencesCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
cuprate
nematic
pair density wave
vestigial
zinc impurity atom