Scattering from incipient stripe order in the high-temperature superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d

TL;DR

This study confirms the presence of short-range stripe order in the high-temperature superconductor Bi-2212 and shows it explains observed electronic modulations better than impurity scattering models.

Contribution

It introduces a model of quasiparticle scattering from short-range stripe order to explain electronic modulations in Bi-2212, surpassing impurity scattering explanations.

Findings

Short-range stripe order exists in Bi-2212.

Stripe order explains energy dispersion of modulations.

Impurity scattering does not account for observed phenomena.

Abstract

Recently we have used spectroscopic mapping with the scanning tunneling microscope to probe modulations of the electronic density of states in single crystals of the high temperature superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d (Bi-2212) as a function of temperature [C. V. Parker et al., Nature (London) 468, 677 (2010)]. These measurements showed Cu-O bond-oriented modulations that form below the pseudogap temperature with a temperature-dependent energy dispersion displaying different behaviors in the superconducting and pseudogap states. Here we demonstrate that quasiparticle scattering off impurities does not capture the experimentally observed energy- and temperature-dependence of these modulations. Instead, a model of scattering of quasiparticles from short-range stripe order, with periodicity near four lattice constants (4a), reproduces the experimentally observed energy dispersion of the bond-oriented modulations and its temperature dependence across the superconducting critical temperature, Tc. The present study confirms the existence of short-range stripe order in Bi-2212.