Pair Density Waves in Superconducting Vortex Halos

TL;DR

This paper investigates how pair-density-wave order interacts with uniform d-wave superconductivity near vortices, revealing charge density modulations that match experimental observations and potentially influence cuprate phase diagrams.

Contribution

It introduces a phenomenological model for PDW and superconductivity interplay, providing insights into vortex halo structures and charge modulations in cuprates.

Findings

Charge density modulations match STM observations

PDW order influences vortex halo properties

Charge modulation periodicity is twice that of CDW

Abstract

We analyze the interplay between a d-wave uniform superconducting and a pair-density-wave (PDW) order parameter in the neighborhood of a vortex. We develop a phenomenological nonlinear sigma-model, solve the saddle point equation for the order parameter configuration, and compute the resulting local density of states in the vortex halo. The intertwining of the two superconducting orders leads to a charge density modulation with the same periodicity as the PDW, which is twice the period of the charge-density-wave that arises as a second-harmonic of the PDW itself. We discuss key features of the charge density modulation that can be directly compared with recent results from scanning tunneling microscopy and speculate on the role PDW order may play in the global phase diagram of the hole-doped cuprates.