Atomic-Scale Visualization of the Cuprate Pair Density Wave State

TL;DR

This study uses spectroscopic imaging STM to visualize the pair density wave state in cuprate superconductors, revealing how it intertwines with other electronic orders like superconductivity and charge density waves.

Contribution

First direct visualization of the cuprate pair density wave state using SI-STM, elucidating its relationship with superconductivity and charge density waves.

Findings

Identification of the PDW state in cuprates.

Intertwined relationship between PDW, DSC, and CDW.

Insights into the electronic structure of cuprates.

Abstract

A recent discovery of the pair density wave (PDW) order creates a stir in understanding an underlying physics in the pseudogap states of the cuprate high temperature superconductors. We have performed a Spectroscopic Imaging Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (SI-STM) measurements on Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_8$+$\delta$ and identified that spatially uniform d-wave superconductivity (DSC), d-symmetry charge density wave (CDW), and the PDW play important roles in an intertwined fashion. In this review, we show how these different electronic degrees of freedom emerges in electronic structures of the cuprate and discuss how they are related to each other.