Signatures of modulated pair interaction in cuprate superconductors

TL;DR

This paper investigates how interstitial oxygen dopants in cuprate superconductors modulate pair interactions, affecting local spectral gaps, supported by experimental correlations from scanning tunnelling spectroscopy.

Contribution

It provides evidence that dopants modulate pair interactions at an atomic scale, explaining local spectral gap variations in cuprate superconductors.

Findings

Strong correlation between dopant positions and spectral gap size

Dopants modulate pair interaction locally

Model aligns with experimental STM data

Abstract

Recent low-temperature scanning tunnelling spectroscopy experiments on the surface of BSCCO-2212 have revealed a strong positive correlation between the position of localized resonances at -960 meV identified with interstitial oxygen dopants and the size of the local spectral gap. We review efforts to understand these correlations within a model where the dopants modulate the pair interaction on an atomic scale. We provide further evidence for this model by comparing the correlations between the dopants and the local density of states with experimental results.