Atomic scale imaging and spectroscopy of a CuO(2) plane at the surface of Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(8+delta)

Direct observation of nodeless superconductivity and phonon modes in electron-doped copper oxide Sr1-xNdxCuO2

The microscopic understanding of high-temperature superconductivity in cuprates has been hindered by the apparent complexity of crystal structures in these materials. We used scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy to study the electron-doped copper oxide compound Sr_1−xNd_xCuO₂, which has only bare cations separating the CuO₂ planes and thus the simplest infinite-layer structure of all cuprate superconductors. Tunneling conductance spectra of the major CuO₂ planes in the superconducting state revealed direct evidence for a nodeless pairing gap, regardless of variation of its magnitude with the local doping of trivalent neodymium. Furthermore, three distinct bosonic modes are observed as multiple peak-dip-hump features outside the superconducting gaps and their respective energies depend little on the spatially varying gaps. As well as the bosonic modes, with energies identical to those of the external, bending and stretching phonons of copper oxides, our findings reveal the origin of the bosonic modes in lattice vibrations rather than spin excitations.

Coexistence ofs- andd-wave gaps due to pair-hopping and exchange interactions

I investigate the superconductivity of the three-bandt-J-Umodel derived from the three-band Hubbard model using the Schrieffer-Wolff transformation. My model is designed considering the hole-doped high-T_csuperconducting cuprate. The model does not exclude the double occupancy of Cu sites bydelectrons, and there is a pair-hopping interaction between thedandpbands together with the exchange interaction. I analyse the superconducting transition temperature, electronic state, and superconducting gap function based on strong coupling theory and find that the superconductivity emerges due to the pair-hopping and exchange interactions via the Suhl-Kondo mechanism. In the superconducting state, the extendeds- anddx2-y2-wave superconducting gaps coexist, where both charge fluctuations andd-pband hybridization are key ingredients.

Topological phase transition in superconductors with mirror symmetry

We provide analytical and numerical evidence that the attractive two-dimensional Kitaev model on a lattice with mirror symmetry demonstrates an unusual 'intrinsic' phase at half filling. This phase emerges in the phase diagram at the boundary separating two topological superconductors with opposite Chern numbers and exists due to the condensation of non-zero momentum Cooper pairs. Unlike Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov superconductivity, the Cooper pairs momenta are lying along two lines in the Brillouin zone meaning simultaneous condensation of a continuum of Cooper pairs.

Sign-Reversing Hall Effect in Atomically Thin High-Temperature Bi_{2.1}Sr_{1.9}CaCu_{2.0}O_{8+δ} Superconductors

We developed novel techniques to fabricate atomically thin Bi_{2.1}Sr_{1.9}CaCu_{2.0}O_{8+δ} van der Waals heterostructures down to two unit cells while maintaining a transition temperature T_{c} close to the bulk, and carry out magnetotransport measurements on these van der Waals devices. We find a double sign change of the Hall resistance R_{xy} as in the bulk system, spanning both below and above T_{c}. Further, we observe a drastic enlargement of the region of sign reversal in the temperature-magnetic field phase diagram with decreasing thickness of the device. We obtain quantitative agreement between experimental R_{xy}(T,B) and the predictions of the vortex dynamics-based description of Hall effect in high-temperature superconductors both above and below T_{c}.

Orbital Symmetry and Orbital Excitations in High-Tc Superconductors

We discuss a few possibilities of high- T c superconductivity with more than one orbital symmetry contributing to the pairing. First, we show that the high energies of orbital excitations in various cuprates suggest a simplified model with a single orbital of x 2 − y 2 symmetry doped by holes. Next, several routes towards involving both e g orbital symmetries for doped holes are discussed: (i) some give superconductivity in a CuO 2 monolayer on Bi2212 superconductors, Sr 2 CuO 4 − δ , Ba 2 CuO 4 − δ , while (ii) others as nickelate heterostructures or Eu 2 − x Sr x NiO 4 , could in principle realize it as well. At low electron filling of Ru ions, spin-orbital entangled states of t 2 g symmetry contribute in Sr 2 RuO 4 . Finally, electrons with both t 2 g and e g orbital symmetries contribute to the superconducting properties and nematicity of Fe-based superconductors, pnictides or FeSe. Some of them provide examples of orbital-selective Cooper pairing.

Cooper Pair Density of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+ x in Atomic scale at 4.2 K

In pursuit of the elusive mechanism of high- T _C superconductors (HTSC), spectroscopic imaging scanning tunneling microscopy (SI-STM) is an indispensable tool for surveying local properties of HTSC. Since a conventional STM utilizes metal tips, which allow the examination of only quasiparticles and not superconducting (SC) pairs, Josephson tunneling using STM has been demonstrated by many authors in the past. An atomically resolved scanning Josephson tunneling microscopy (SJTM), however, was realized only recently on Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O_{8+ x} (Bi-2212) below 50 mK and on the Pb(110) surface at 20 mK. Here we report the atomically resolved SJTM on Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O_{8+ x} at 4.2 K using Bi-2212 tips created in situ. The I- V characteristics show clear zero bias conductance peaks following Ambegaokar-Baratoff (AB) theory. A gap map was produced for the first time using an atomically resolved Josephson critical current map I _C( r) and AB theory. Surprisingly, we found that this new gap map is anticorrelated to the gap map produced by a conventional method relying on the coherence peaks. Quasiparticle resonance due to a single isolated zinc atom impurity was also observed by SJTM, indicating that atomically resolved SJTM was achieved at 4.2 K. Our result provides a starting point for realizing SJTM at even higher temperatures, rendering possible investigation of the existence of SC pairs in HTSC above the T _C.

Tracing the Electronic Pairing Glue in Unconventional Superconductors via Inelastic Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy

Scanning tunneling microscopy has been shown to be a powerful experimental probe to detect electronic excitations and further allows us to deduce fingerprints of bosonic collective modes in superconductors. Here, we demonstrate that the inclusion of inelastic tunnel events is crucial for the interpretation of tunneling spectra of unconventional superconductors and allows us to directly probe electronic and bosonic excitations via scanning tunneling microscopy. We apply the formalism to the iron based superconductor LiFeAs. With the inclusion of inelastic contributions, we find strong evidence for a nonconventional pairing mechanism, likely via magnetic excitations.

Mapping the Electronic Structure of Each Ingredient Oxide Layer of High-T\{c} Cuprate Superconductor Bi{2}Sr{2}CaCu{2}O{8+δ}

Understanding the mechanism of high transition temperature (T{c}) superconductivity in cuprates has been hindered by the apparent complexity of their multilayered crystal structure. Using a cryogenic scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), we report on layer-by-layer probing of the electronic structures of all ingredient planes (BiO, SrO, CuO{2}) of Bi{2}Sr{2}CaCu_2}O{8+δ} superconductor prepared by argon-ion bombardment and annealing technique. We show that the well-known pseudogap (PG) feature observed by STM is inherently a property of the BiO planes and thus irrelevant directly to Cooper pairing. The SrO planes exhibit an unexpected van Hove singularity near the Fermi level, while the CuO{2} planes are exclusively characterized by a smaller gap inside the PG. The small gap becomes invisible near T{c}, which we identify as the superconducting gap. The above results constitute severe constraints on any microscopic model for high T{c} superconductivity in cuprates.