13,804 research outputs found
Superfluid Suppression in d-Wave Superconductors due to Disordered Magnetism
The influence of static magnetic correlations on the temperature-dependent
superfluid density \rho_s(T) is calculated for d-wave superconductors. In
self-consistent calculations, itinerant holes form incommensurate spin density
waves (SDW) which coexist with superconductivity. In the clean limit, the
density of states is gapped, and \rho_s(T << T_c) is exponentially activated.
In inhomogeneously-doped cases, the SDW are disordered and both the density of
states and \rho_s(T) obtain forms indistinguishable from those in dirty but
pure d-wave superconductors, in accordance with experiments. We conclude that
the observed collapse of \rho_s at x\approx 0.35 in underdoped YBCO may
plausibly be attributed to the coexistence of SDW and superconductivity.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures. Expanded discussio
Signatures of orbital loop currents in the spatially resolved local density of states
Polarized neutron scattering measurements have suggested that intra-unit cell
antiferromagnetism may be associated with the pseudogap phase. Assuming that
loop current order is responsible for the observed magnetism, we calculate some
signatures of such circulating currents in the local density of states around a
single non-magnetic impurity in a coexistence phase with superconductivity. We
find a distinct C4 symmetry breaking near the disorder which is also detectable
in the resulting quasi-particle interference patterns.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Emergence of charge order in a staggered loop-current phase of cuprate high-temperature superconductors
We study the emergence of charge ordered phases within a pi-loop current
(piLC) model for the pseudogap based on a three-band model for underdoped
cuprate superconductors. Loop currents and charge ordering are driven by
distinct components of the short-range Coulomb interactions: loop currents
result from the repulsion between nearest-neighbor copper and oxygen orbitals,
while charge order results from repulsion between neighboring oxygen orbitals.
We find that the leading piLC phase has an antiferromagnetic pattern similar to
previously discovered staggered flux phases, and that it emerges abruptly at
hole dopings p below the van Hove filling. Subsequent charge ordering
tendencies in the piLC phase reveal that diagonal d-charge density waves (dCDW)
are suppressed by the loop currents while axial order competes more weakly. In
some cases we find a wide temperature range below the loop-current transition,
over which the susceptibility towards an axial dCDW is large. In these cases,
short-range axial charge order may be induced by doping-related disorder. A
unique feature of the coexisting dCDW and piLC phases is the emergence of an
incommensurate modulation of the loop currents. If the dCDW is biaxial
(checkerboard) then the resulting incommensurate current pattern breaks all
mirror and time-reversal symmetries, thereby allowing for a polar Kerr effect
Quantum interference in nested d-wave superconductors: a real-space perspective
We study the local density of states around potential scatterers in d-wave
superconductors, and show that quantum interference between impurity states is
not negligible for experimentally relevant impurity concentrations. The two
impurity model is used as a paradigm to understand these effects analytically
and in interpreting numerical solutions of the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations
on fully disordered systems. We focus primarily on the globally particle-hole
symmetric model which has been the subject of considerable controversy, and
give evidence that a zero-energy delta function exists in the DOS. The
anomalous spectral weight at zero energy is seen to arise from resonant
impurity states belonging to a particular sublattice, exactly as in the
2-impurity version of this model. We discuss the implications of these findings
for realistic models of the cuprates.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figs, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Two impurities in a d-wave superconductor:local density of states
We study the problem of two local potential scatterers in a d-wave
superconductor, and show how quasiparticle bound state wave functions
interfere. Each single-impurity electron and hole resonance energy is in
general split in the presence of a second impurity into two, corresponding to
one even parity and one odd parity state. We calculate the local density of
states (LDOS), and argue that scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) measurements
should be capable of extracting information about the Green's function in the
pure system by a systematic study of 2-impurity configurations. In some
configurations highly localized, long-lived states are predicted. We discuss
the effects of realistic band structures, and how 2-impurity STM measurements
could help distinguish between current explanations of LDOS impurity spectra in
the BSCCO-2212 system.Comment: 16 pages,21 figure,New Version to be Published on P.R.
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