Quasiparticle mirages in the tunneling spectra of d-wave superconductors .

Journal Article · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2008 · Phys. Rev. Lett.

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.78.020508· OSTI ID:965749

Paul, I; Klironomos, A D; Norman, M R

We illustrate the importance of many-body effects in the Fourier-transformed local density of states (FT-LDOS) of d-wave superconductors from a model of electrons coupled to an Einstein mode with energy {Omega}{sub 0}. For bias energies significantly larger than {Omega}{sub 0}, the quasiparticles have short lifetimes due to this coupling and the FT-LDOS is featureless if the electron-impurity scattering is treated within the Born approximation. In this regime, it is important to include boson exchange for the electron-impurity scattering, which provides a 'step down' in energy for the electrons and allows for long lifetimes. This many-body effect produces qualitatively different results, namely the presence of peaks in the FT-LDOS, which are mirrors of the quasiparticle interference peaks which occur at bias energies smaller than {approx}{Omega}{sub 0}. The experimental observation of these quasiparticle mirages would be an important step forward in elucidating the role of many-body effects in FT-LDOS measurements.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)
• Sponsoring Organization: SC
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 965749
• Report Number(s): ANL/MSD/JA-60060
• Journal Information: Phys. Rev. Lett., Journal Name: Phys. Rev. Lett. Journal Issue: 2008 Vol. 78; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: ENGLISH

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
BORN APPROXIMATION
BOSONS
ELECTRONS
MIRRORS
SCATTERING
SPECTRA
SUPERCONDUCTORS
TUNNELING