Elasticity-Driven Nanoscale Electronic Structure in Superconductors

TL;DR

This paper investigates how long-range elastic deformations affect the electronic structure in superconductors, revealing local suppression of superconductivity and potential quasiparticle trapping, with predictions testable by STM.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical framework analyzing the impact of elastic deformations on superconducting electronic structures, including effects of defects and boundaries.

Findings

Superconducting order parameter is suppressed near lattice deformations.

Electronic structure shows strong modulation due to lattice deformations.

Low-lying quasiparticle states can be trapped around defects.

Abstract

The effects of long-range anisotropic elastic deformations on electronic structure in superconductors are analyzed within the framework of the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations. Cases of twin boundaries and isolated defects are considered as illustrations. We find that the superconducting order parameter is depressed in the regions where pronounced lattice deformation occurs. The calculated local density of states suggests that the electronic structure is strongly modulated in response to lattice deformations, and propagates to longer distances. In particular, this allows the trapping of low-lying quasiparticle states around defects. Some of our predictions can be directly tested by STM experiments.