257 research outputs found
Atomic manipulation of the gap in BiSrCaCuO
Single atom manipulation within doped correlated electron systems would be
highly beneficial to disentangle the influence of dopants, structural defects
and crystallographic characteristics on their local electronic states.
Unfortunately, their high diffusion barrier prevents conventional manipulation
techniques. Here, we demonstrate the possibility to reversibly manipulate
select sites in the optimally doped high temperature superconductor
BiSrCaCuO using the local electric field of the tip.
We show that upon shifting individual Bi atoms at the surface, the spectral gap
associated with superconductivity is seen to reversibly change by as much as 15
meV (~5% of the total gap size). Our toy model that captures all observed
characteristics suggests the field induces lateral movement of point-like
objects that create a local pairing potential in the CuO2 plane.Comment: Published in Science, this is the originally submitted manuscript
prior to changes during the review proces
Direct Evidence for a Magnetic f-electron Mediated Cooper Pairing Mechanism of Heavy Fermion Superconductivity in CeCoIn5
To identify the microscopic mechanism of heavy-fermion Cooper pairing is an
unresolved challenge in quantum matter studies; it may also relate closely to
finding the pairing mechanism of high temperature superconductivity.
Magnetically mediated Cooper pairing has long been the conjectured basis of
heavy-fermion superconductivity but no direct verification of this hypothesis
was achievable. Here, we use a novel approach based on precision measurements
of the heavy-fermion band structure using quasiparticle interference (QPI)
imaging, to reveal quantitatively the momentum-space (k-space) structure of the
f-electron magnetic interactions of CeCoIn5. Then, by solving the
superconducting gap equations on the two heavy-fermion bands
with these magnetic interactions as mediators of the
Cooper pairing, we derive a series of quantitative predictions about the
superconductive state. The agreement found between these diverse predictions
and the measured characteristics of superconducting CeCoIn5, then provides
direct evidence that the heavy-fermion Cooper pairing is indeed mediated by the
f-electron magnetism.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures, Supplementary Information: 31 pages, 5 figure
Non-gapped Fermi surfaces, quasiparticles and the anomalous temperature dependence of the near- electronic states in the CMR oxide LaSrMnO with
After years of research into colossal magnetoresistant (CMR) manganites using
bulk techniques, there has been a recent upsurge in experiments directly
probing the electronic states at or near the surface of the bilayer CMR
materials LaSrMnO using angle-resolved photoemission
or scanning probe microscopy. Here we report new, temperature dependent, angle
resolved photoemission data from single crystals with a doping level of
. The first important result is that there is no sign of a pseudogap in
the charge channel of this material for temperatures below the Curie
temperature . The second important result concerns the temperature
dependence of the electronic states. The temperature dependent changes in the
Fermi surface spectra both at the zone face and zone diagonal regions in
-space indicate that the coherent quasiparticle weight disappears for
temperatures significantly above , and that the -dependence of the
T-induced changes in the spectra invalidate an interpretation of these data in
terms of the superposition of a `universal' metallic spectrum and an insulating
spectrum whose relative weight changes with temperature. In this sense, our
data are not compatible with a phase separation scenario.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
The cleavage surface of the BaFe_(2-x)Co_(x)As_(2) and Fe_(y)Se_(1-x)Te_(x) superconductors: from diversity to simplicity
We elucidate the termination surface of cleaved single crystals of the
BaFe_(2-x)Co_(x)As_(2) and Fe_(y)Se_(1-x)Te_(x) families of the high
temperature iron based superconductors. By combining scanning tunneling
microscopic data with low energy electron diffraction we prove that the
termination layer of the Ba122 systems is a remnant of the Ba layer, which
exhibits a complex diversity of ordered and disordered structures. The observed
surface topographies and their accompanying superstructure reflections in
electron diffraction depend on the cleavage temperature. In stark contrast,
Fe_(y)Se_(1-x)Te_(x) possesses only a single termination structure - that of
the tetragonally ordered Se_(1-x)Te_(x) layer.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
A high resolution, hard x-ray photoemission investigation of La_(2-2x)Sr_(1+2x)Mn_2O_7 (0.30<x<0.50): on microscopic phase separation and the surface electronic structure of a bilayered CMR manganite
Photoemission data taken with hard x-ray radiation on cleaved single crystals
of the bilayered, colossal magnetoresistant manganite La_(2-2x)Sr_(1+2x)Mn_2O_7
(LSMO) with 0.30<x<0.50 are presented. Making use of the increased
bulk-sensitivity upon hard x-ray excitation it is shown that the core level
footprint of the electronic structure of the LSMO cleavage surface is identical
to that of the bulk. Furthermore, by comparing the core level shift of the
different elements as a function of doping level x, it is shown that
microscopic phase separation is unlikely to occur for this particular manganite
well above the Curie temperature.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure
Interaction-driven quantum phase transition of a single magnetic impurity in Fe(Se,Te)
Understanding the interplay between individual magnetic impurities and
superconductivity is crucial for bottom-up construction of novel phases of
matter. For decades, the description by Yu, Shiba and Rusinov (YSR) of single
spins in a superconductor and its extension to include quantum effects has
proven highly successful: the pair-breaking potential of the spin generates
sub-gap electron- and hole excitations that are energetically equidistant from
zero. By tuning the energy of the sub-gap states through zero, the impurity
screening by the superconductor makes the ground state gain or lose an
electron, signalling a parity breaking quantum phase transition. Here we show
that in multi-orbital impurities, correlations between the in-gap states can
conversely lead to a quantum phase transition where more than one electron
simultaneously leave the impurity without significant effect of the screening
by the superconductor, while the parity may remain unchanged. This finding
implies that the YSR treatment is not always valid, and that intra-atomic
interactions, particularly Hund's coupling that favours high spin
configurations, are an essential ingredient for understanding the sub-gap
states. The interaction-driven quantum phase transition should be taken into
account for impurity-based band-structure engineering, and may provide a
fruitful basis in the search for novel physics.Comment: Main text and supplementar
Nanoscale superconducting gap variations, strong coupling signatures and lack of phase separation in optimally doped BaFe1.86Co0.14As2
We present tunneling data from optimally-doped, superconducting
BaFe1.86Co0.14As2 and its parent compound, BaFe2As2. In the superconductor,
clear coherence-like peaks are seen across the whole field of view, and their
analysis reveals nanoscale variations in the superconducting gap value, Delta.
The average magnitude of 2Delta is ~7.4 kBTC, which exceeds the BCS weak
coupling value for either s- or d-wave superconductivity. The characteristic
length scales of the deviations from the average gap value, and of an
anti-correlation discovered between the gap magnitude and the zero bias
conductance, match well with the average separation between the Co dopant ions
in the superconducting FeAs planes. The tunneling spectra themselves possess a
peak-dip-hump lineshape, suggestive of a coupling of the superconducting
electronic system to a well-defined bosonic mode of energy 4.7 kBTC, such as
the spin resonance observed recently in inelastic neutron scattering.Comment: 4 figures, corrected typos, reduced size of image
The acute and sub-chronic effects of cocoa flavanols on mood, cognitive and cardiovascular health in young healthy adults: a randomized, controlled trial.
Cocoa supplementation has been associated with benefits to cardiovascular health. However, cocoa\u27s effects on cognition are less clear. A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial (n = 40, age M = 24.13 years, SD = 4.47 years) was conducted to investigate the effects of both acute (same-day) and sub-chronic (daily for four-weeks) 250 mg cocoa supplementation on mood and mental fatigue, cognitive performance and cardiovascular functioning in young, healthy adults. Assessment involved repeated 10-min cycles of the Cognitive Demand Battery (CDB) encompassing two serial subtraction tasks (Serial Threes and Sevens), a Rapid Visual Information Processing task, and a mental fatigue scale over the course of half an hour. The Swinburne University Computerized Cognitive Assessment Battery (SUCCAB) was also completed to evaluate cognition. Cardiovascular function included measuring both peripheral and central blood pressure and cerebral blood flow. At the acute time point, consumption of cocoa significantly improved self-reported mental fatigue and performance on the Serial Sevens task in cycle one of the CDB. No other significant effects were found. This trial was registered with the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry (Trial ID: ACTRN12613000626763). Accessible via http://www.anzctr.org.au/TrialSearch.aspx?searchTxt=ACTRN12613000626763&ddlSearch=Registered
Anisotropic Impurity-States, Quasiparticle Scattering and Nematic Transport in Underdoped Ca(Fe1-xCox)2As2
Iron-based high temperature superconductivity develops when the `parent'
antiferromagnetic/orthorhombic phase is suppressed, typically by introduction
of dopant atoms. But their impact on atomic-scale electronic structure, while
in theory quite complex, is unknown experimentally. What is known is that a
strong transport anisotropy with its resistivity maximum along the crystal
b-axis, develops with increasing concentration of dopant atoms; this
`nematicity' vanishes when the `parent' phase disappears near the maximum
superconducting Tc. The interplay between the electronic structure surrounding
each dopant atom, quasiparticle scattering therefrom, and the transport
nematicity has therefore become a pivotal focus of research into these
materials. Here, by directly visualizing the atomic-scale electronic structure,
we show that substituting Co for Fe atoms in underdoped Ca(Fe1-xCox)2As2
generates a dense population of identical anisotropic impurity states. Each is
~8 Fe-Fe unit cells in length, and all are distributed randomly but aligned
with the antiferromagnetic a-axis. By imaging their surrounding interference
patterns, we further demonstrate that these impurity states scatter
quasiparticles in a highly anisotropic manner, with the maximum scattering rate
concentrated along the b-axis. These data provide direct support for the recent
proposals that it is primarily anisotropic scattering by dopant-induced
impurity states that generates the transport nematicity; they also yield simple
explanations for the enhancement of the nematicity proportional to the dopant
density and for the occurrence of the highest resistivity along the b-axis
- …