Picometer Registration of Zinc Impurity States in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d for Phase Determination in Intra-unit-cell Fourier Transform STM

Abstract

Direct visualization of electronic-structure symmetry within each crystalline unit cell is a new technique for complex electronic matter research. By studying the Bragg peaks in Fourier transforms of electronic structure images, and particularly by resolving both the real and imaginary components of the Bragg amplitudes, distinct types of intra-unit cell symmetry breaking can be studied. However, establishing the precise symmetry point of each unit cell in real space is crucial in defining the phase for such Bragg-peak Fourier analysis. Exemplary of this challenge is the high temperature superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d for which the surface Bi atom locations are observable, while it is the invisible Cu atoms that define the relevant CuO2 unit-cell symmetry point. Here we demonstrate, by imaging with picometer precision the electronic impurity states at individual Zn atoms substituted at Cu sites, that the phase established using the Bi lattice produces a ~2% (2pi) error relative to the actual Cu lattice. Such a phase assignment error would not diminish reliability in the determination of intra-unit-cell rotational symmetry breaking at the CuO2 plane. Moreover, this type of impurity atom substitution at the relevant symmetry site can be of general utility in phase determination for Bragg-peak Fourier analysis of intra-unit-cell symmetry.

Main article + figures, Supplementary Data + Figures; accepted to New Journal of Physics

References in corpus (10)

• An Intrinsic Bond-Centered Electronic Glass with Unidirectional Domains in Underdoped Cuprates
• Visualizing pair formation on the atomic scale in the high-Tc superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d
• Imaging the Fano Lattice to 'Hidden Order' Transition in URu2Si2
• Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy and Vortex Imaging in the Iron-Pnictide Superconductor BaFe${}_{1.8}$Co${}_{0.2}$As${}_2$
• Topological Defects Coupling Smectic Modulations to Intra-unit-cell Nematicity in Cuprate
• Imaging the impact on cuprate superconductivity of varying the inter-atomic distances within individual crystal unit-cells
• A distinct bosonic mode in an electron-doped high-transition-temperature superconductor
• Spectroscopic Imaging STM Studies of Electronic Structure in the Superconducting and Pseudogap Phases of Cuprate High-Tc Superconductors
• How Kondo Holes Create Intense Nanoscale Heavy-Fermion Hybridization Disorder
• Pseudogap-less high T${}_c$ superconductivity in BaCo${}_x$Fe${}_{2-x}$As${}_2$

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• A quantum phase transition from triangular to stripe charge order in NbSe${}_2$
• Interpretation of scanning tunneling quasiparticle interference and impurity states in cuprates
• Visualization of atomic-scale phenomena in superconductors: application to FeSe
• Detection of electronic nematicity using scanning tunneling microscopy
• Charge order textures induced by non-linear lattice coupling in a half-doped manganite
• Holographic Maps of Quasiparticle Interference
• Real-space pairing through a confined local nematic state in cuprate superconductors
• Mechanism of metallization and superconductivity suppression in YBa${}_2($Cu${}_{0.97}$Zn${}_{0.03}{)}_3$O${}_{6.92}$ revealed by ${}^{67}$Zn NQR
• Shot-noise and differential conductance as signatures of putative topological superconductivity in FeSe${}_{0.45}$Te${}_{0.55}$
• Multi-Atom Quasiparticle Scattering Interference for Superconductor Energy-Gap Symmetry Determination
• Signatures of orbital loop currents in the spatially resolved local density of states
• Visualizing the charge order and topological defects in an overdoped (Bi,Pb)${}_2$Sr${}_2$CuO${}_{6+x}$ superconductor
• Periodic Atomic Displacements and Visualization of the Electron-Lattice Interaction in the Cuprate