Observation of superconducting pair density modulation within lattice unit cell

TL;DR

This study uses scanning tunneling microscopy to observe and analyze the modulation of superconducting pair density within a single lattice unit cell in monolayer high-Tc iron chalcogenide films, revealing symmetry breaking and providing microscopic insights into high-temperature superconductivity.

Contribution

First direct observation of superconducting pair density modulation within a single unit cell in high-Tc iron chalcogenide films, revealing symmetry breaking at atomic scale.

Findings

Superconducting gap modulation correlates with chalcogen atom positions.

Breaking of glide-mirror symmetry in the lattice.

Provides microscopic details of superconductivity within a unit cell.

Abstract

In unconventional high-temperature (high-Tc) superconductors, the pair density wave state, an exotic superconducting order showing spatially periodic order parameter modulations with the period of several unit cells and translational symmetry breaking, has attracted broad attention. However, the superconducting pair density modulation within a single unit cell (PDM) has never been carefully investigated before. Here, using scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy, we report the observation of PDM in monolayer high-Tc iron chalcogenide films epitaxially grown on SrTiO3(001). The superconductivity modulations are characterized by the superconducting gap size and the coherence peak sharpness. Further analysis shows that the local maxima and minima in the superconducting gap modulation are centered at the crystallographic locations of the chalcogen atoms, revealing the breaking of the glide-mirror symmetry of the chalcogen atoms in monolayer high-Tc iron chalcogenide films grown on SrTiO3(001). Our findings provide precise microscopic information on superconductivity within the lattice unit cell and may promote the understanding of unconventional high-Tc superconductivity.