Scattering Interference Signature of a Pair Density Wave State in the Cuprate Pseudogap Phase

Session

Stream 4 (AFM): New Frontiers in Quantum Matter Visualization

Authors

Dr Shuqiu Wang (1), Prof Peayush Choubey (4), Dr Yi Xue Chong (5), Dr Weijiong Chen (1), Wangping Ren (1), Dr H Eisaki (3), Dr S Uchida (3), Prof Peter J. Hirschfeld (2), Prof J.C.Seamus Davis (1, 5, 6, 7)

Affiliations

1. Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford
2. Department of Physics, University of Florida
3. Inst. of Advanced Industrial Science and Tech
4. Institut für Theoretische Physik III, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
5. LASSP, Department of Physics, Cornell University
6. Department of Physics, University College Cork
7. Max-Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids

Keywords

Quantum matter, superconductivity, scanning tunneling microscopy, condensed matter physics

Abstract text

An unidentified quantum fluid designated the pseudogap (PG) phase is produced by electron-density depletion in the CuO₂ antiferromagnetic insulator. Current theories suggest that the PG phase may be a pair density wave (PDW) state characterized by a spatially modulating density of electron pairs. Such a state should exhibit a periodically modulating energy gap  in real-space, and a characteristic quasiparticle scattering interference (QPI) signature  in wavevector space. By studying strongly underdoped Bi₂Sr₂CaDyCu₂O₈ at hole-density ~0.08 in the superconductive phase, we detect the 8a₀-periodic  modulations signifying a PDW coexisting with superconductivity. Then, by visualizing the temperature dependence of electronic structure from the superconducting into the pseudogap phase, we find evolution of the scattering interference signature  as predicted specifically for an 8a₀-periodic PDW. These observations from the real- and wavevector-space are all consistent with a transition from a PDW state coexisting with d-wave superconductivity to a pure PDW state in the Bi₂Sr₂CaDyCu₂O₈ pseudogap phase.

Funding: Y.X.C. and J.C.S.D. acknowledge support from the Moore Foundation’s EPiQS Initiative through Grant GBMF9457. J.C.S.D. acknowledges from Science Foundation Ireland under Award SFI 17/RP/5445. W.C. and J.C.S.D. acknowledges support from the Royal Society through Award R64897. S.W., W.R. and J.C.S.D. acknowledge support from the European Research Council (ERC) under Award DLV-788932.