Pseudogap in the chain states of YBCO

TL;DR

This study uses soft X-ray ARPES to detect a surface band in YBCO that reveals a pseudogap and Fermi surface nesting, linking charge density wave formation in CuO chains to observed STM modulations.

Contribution

First detection of a chain-derived surface band in YBCO that correlates with CDW wave vector and pseudogap, clarifying the electronic origin of CDWs in the CuO chains.

Findings

Detected a new surface band with 2k_F matching CDW wave vector

Observed a pseudogap in the surface band consistent with STM results

Confirmed Fermi surface nesting as a mechanism for CDW formation

Abstract

As established by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) cleaved surfaces of the high temperature superconductor YBa$_2$Cu$_2$O$_{7-\delta}$ develop charge density wave (CDW) modulations in the one-dimensional (1D) CuO chains. At the same time, no signatures of the CDW have been reported in the spectral function of the chain band previously studied by photoemission. We use soft X-ray angle resolved photoemission (SX-ARPES) to detect a chain-derived surface band that had not been detected in previous work. The $2k_\textup{F}$ for the new surface band is found to be 0.55\,\AA$^{-1}$, which matches the wave vector of the CDW observed in direct space by STM. This reveals the relevance of the Fermi surface nesting for the formation of CDWs in the CuO chains in YBa$_2$Cu$_2$O$_{7-\delta}$. In agreement with the short range nature of the CDW order the newly detected surface band exhibits a pseudogap, whose energy scale also corresponds to that observed by STM.