IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v580y2020i7801d10.1038_s41586-020-2143-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • Zengyi Du

    (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

  • Hui Li

    (Brookhaven National Laboratory
    Stony Brook University)

  • Sang Hyun Joo

    (Seoul National University)

  • Elizabeth P. Donoway

    (Brookhaven National Laboratory
    University of California, Berkeley)

  • Jinho Lee

    (Seoul National University)

  • J. C. Séamus Davis

    (University College Cork
    University of Oxford)

  • Genda Gu

    (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

  • Peter D. Johnson

    (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

  • Kazuhiro Fujita

    (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

Abstract

The defining characteristic1,2 of Cooper pairs with finite centre-of-mass momentum is a spatially modulating superconducting energy gap Δ(r), where r is a position. Recently, this concept has been generalized to the pair-density-wave (PDW) state predicted to exist in copper oxides (cuprates)3,4. Although the signature of a cuprate PDW has been detected in Cooper-pair tunnelling5, the distinctive signature in single-electron tunnelling of a periodic Δ(r) modulation has not been observed. Here, using a spectroscopic technique based on scanning tunnelling microscopy, we find strong Δ(r) modulations in the canonical cuprate Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ that have eight-unit-cell periodicity or wavevectors Q ≈ (2π/a0)(1/8, 0) and Q ≈ (2π/a0)(0, 1/8) (where a0 is the distance between neighbouring Cu atoms). Simultaneous imaging of the local density of states N(r, E) (where E is the energy) 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 find them to be concentrated in areas where the PDW spatial phase changes by π, as predicted by the theory of half-vortices in a PDW state6,7. Overall, this is a compelling demonstration, from multiple single-electron signatures, of a PDW state coexisting with superconductivity in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ.

Suggested Citation

  • Zengyi Du & Hui Li & Sang Hyun Joo & Elizabeth P. Donoway & Jinho Lee & J. C. Séamus Davis & Genda Gu & Peter D. Johnson & Kazuhiro Fujita, 2020. "Imaging the energy gap modulations of the cuprate pair-density-wave state," Nature, Nature, vol. 580(7801), pages 65-70, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:580:y:2020:i:7801:d:10.1038_s41586-020-2143-x
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2143-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2143-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41586-020-2143-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Haitao Yang & Yuhan Ye & Zhen Zhao & Jiali Liu & Xin-Wei Yi & Yuhang Zhang & Hongqin Xiao & Jinan Shi & Jing-Yang You & Zihao Huang & Bingjie Wang & Jing Wang & Hui Guo & Xiao Lin & Chengmin Shen & Wu, 2024. "Superconductivity and nematic order in a new titanium-based kagome metal CsTi3Bi5 without charge density wave order," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Lu Cao & Yucheng Xue & Yingbo Wang & Fu-Chun Zhang & Jian Kang & Hong-Jun Gao & Jinhai Mao & Yuhang Jiang, 2024. "Directly visualizing nematic superconductivity driven by the pair density wave in NbSe2," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    3. Bin Hu & Hui Chen & Yuhan Ye & Zihao Huang & Xianghe Han & Zhen Zhao & Hongqin Xiao & Xiao Lin & Haitao Yang & Ziqiang Wang & Hong-Jun Gao, 2024. "Evidence of a distinct collective mode in Kagome superconductors," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:580:y:2020:i:7801:d:10.1038_s41586-020-2143-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.