Visualizing the cuprate pair density wave state

The defining characteristic [1,2] of Cooper pairs with finite center-of-mass momentum is a spatially modulating superconducting energy gap D(r). Recently, this concept has been generalized to the pair density wave (PDW) state predicted to exist in cuprates [3,4]. Although the signature of a cuprate PDW has been detected in Cooper-pair tunneling [5] and electronic structures of an underdoped cuprates can be explained very well by a coexisting d-wave superconductivity and PDW model [6], the distinctive signature in single-electron tunneling of a periodic D(r) modulation has never been observed. Here, using a new approach, we discover strong D(r) modulations in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+? that have eight-unit-cell periodicity or wavevectors Q~2p/a0(1/8,0); 2p/a0(0,1/8). Simultaneous imaging of the local-density-of-states N(r,E) reveals electronic modulations with wavevectors Q and 2Q, as anticipated when the PDW coexists with superconductivity. Finally, by visualizing the topological defects in these N(r,E) density waves at 2Q, we discover them to be concentrated in areas where the PDW spatial phase changes by p, as predicted by the theory of half-vortices in a PDW state [7,8]. Overall, this is a compelling demonstration, from multiple single-electron signatures, of a PDW state coexisting with superconductivity in the canonical cuprate Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+?. In this talk, I will present the recent development of the cuprate PDW studies as summarized above and discuss a possible role of the PDW in the cuprate.

This work was done in collaboration with Zengyi Du, Hui Li, Sanghyun Joo, Elizabeth P. Donoway, Jinho Lee, J. C. Séamus Davis, Genda D. Gu, Peter D. Johnson, and has been published in Nature 580 65-70 (2020).

Host: Yasu Takano