33,969 research outputs found

    Antiferromagnetic correlations and impurity broadening of NMR linewidths in cuprate superconductors

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    We study a model of a d-wave superconductor with strong potential scatterers in the presence of antiferromagnetic correlations and apply it to experimental nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) results on Zn impurities in the superconducting state of YBCO. We then focus on the contribution of impurity-induced paramagnetic moments, with Hubbard correlations in the host system accounted for in Hartree approximation. We show that local magnetism around individual impurities broadens the line, but quasiparticle interference between impurity states plays an important role in smearing out impurity satellite peaks. The model, together with estimates of vortex lattice effects, provides a semi-quantitative description of the impurity concentration dependence of the NMR line shape in the superconducting state, and gives a qualitative description of the temperature dependence of the line asymmetry. We argue that impurity-induced paramagnetism and resonant local density of states effects are both necessary to explain existing experiments.Comment: 15 pages, 23 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

    Disorder-induced freezing of dynamical spin fluctuations in underdoped cuprates

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    We study the dynamical spin susceptibility of a correlated d-wave superconductor (dSC) in the presence of disorder, using an unrestricted Hartree-Fock approach. This model provides a concrete realization of the notion that disorder slows down spin fluctuations, which eventually "freeze out". The evolution of disorder-induced spectral weight transfer agrees qualitatively with experimental observations on underdoped cuprate superconductors. For sufficiently large disorder concentrations, static spin density wave (SDW) order is created when droplets of magnetism nucleated by impurities overlap. We also study the disordered stripe state coexisting with a dSC and compare its magnetic fluctuation spectrum to that of the disorder-generated SDW phase.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

    Extinction of quasiparticle interference in underdoped cuprates with coexisting order

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    Recent scanning tunnelling spectroscopy measurements [Y. Koksaka et al., Nature 454, 1072 (2008)] have shown that dispersing quasiparticle interference peaks in Fourier transformed conductance maps disappear as the bias voltage exceeds a certain threshold corresponding to the coincidence of the contour of constant quasiparticle energy with the antiferromagnetic zone boundary. Here we argue that this is caused by quasistatic short-range coexisting order present in the d-wave superconducting phase, and that the most likely origin of this order is disorder-induced incommensurate antiferromagnetism. We show explicitly how the peaks are extinguished in the related situation with coexisting long-range antiferromagnetic order, and discuss the connection with the realistic disordered case. Since it is the localized quasiparticle interference peaks rather than the underlying antinodal states themselves which are destroyed at a critical bias, our proposal resolves a conflict between scanning tunneling spectroscopy and photoemission regarding the nature of these states.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure

    Disorder-Induced Static Antiferromagnetism in Cuprate Superconductors

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    Using model calculations of a disordered d-wave superconductor with on-site Hubbard repulsion, we show how dopant disorder can stabilize novel states with antiferromagnetic order. We find that the critical strength of correlations or impurity potential necessary to create an ordered magnetic state in the presence of finite disorder is reduced compared to that required to create a single isolated magnetic droplet. This may explain why in cuprates like LSCO low-energy probes have identified a static magnetic component which persists well into the superconducting state, whereas in cleaner systems like YBCO it is absent or minimal. Finally we address the case of nominally clean LSCO samples at optimal doping, where such ordered magnetic moments are absent, but where they can be induced by small concentrations of strong scatterers.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

    Origin of electronic dimers in the spin-density wave phase of Fe-based superconductors

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    We investigate the emergent impurity-induced states arising from point-like scatterers in the spin-density wave phase of iron-based superconductors within a microscopic five-band model. Independent of the details of the band-structure and disorder potential, it is shown how stable magnetic (pi,pi) unidirectional nematogens are formed locally by the impurities. Interestingly, these nematogens exhibit a dimer structure in the electronic density, are directed along the antiferromagnetic a-axis, and have typical lengths of order 10 lattice constants in excellent agreement with recent scanning tunnelling experiments. These electronic dimers provide a natural explanation of the dopant-induced transport anisotropy found e.g. in the 122 iron pnictides.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

    Impurity states and cooperative magnetic order in Fe-based superconductors

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    We study impurity bound states and impurity-induced order in the superconducting state of LiFeAs within a realistic five-band model based on the band structure and impurity potentials obtained from density functional theory (DFT). In agreement with recent experiments, we find that Co impurities are too weak produce sub-gap bound states, whereas stronger impurities like Cu do. We also obtain the bound state spectrum for magnetic impurities, such as Mn, and show how spin-resolved tunnelling may determine the nature of the various defect sites in iron pnictides, a prerequisite for using impurity bound states as a probe of the ground state pairing symmetry. Lastly we show how impurities pin both orbital and magnetic order, providing an explanation for a growing set of experimental evidence for unusual magnetic phases in doped iron pnictides.Comment: 5 pages, 5 fig

    Raising the critical temperature by disorder in unconventional superconductors mediated by spin fluctuations

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    We propose a mechanism whereby disorder can enhance the transition temperature Tc of an unconventional superconductor with pairing driven by exchange of spin fluctuations. The theory is based on a self-consistent real space treatment of pairing in the disordered one-band Hubbard model. It has been demonstrated before that impurities can enhance pairing by softening the spin fluctuations locally; here, we consider the competing effect of pair-breaking by the screened Coulomb potential also present. We show that, depending on the impurity potential strength and proximity to magnetic order, this mechanism results in a weakening of the disorder-dependent Tc-suppression rate expected from Abrikosov-Gor'kov theory, or even in disorder-generated Tc enhancements.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures + Supplementary Materia
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