Nanoscale interplay of strain and doping in a high-temperature superconductor

Abstract

The highest temperature superconductors are electronically inhomogeneous at the nanoscale, suggesting the existence of a local variable which could be harnessed to enhance the superconducting pairing. Here we report the relationship between local doping and local strain in the cuprate superconductor Bi${}_2$Sr${}_2$CaCu${}_2$O${}_{8+x}$. We use scanning tunneling microscopy to discover that the crucial oxygen dopants are periodically distributed, in correlation with local strain. Our picoscale investigation of the intra-unit-cell positions of all oxygen dopants provides essential structural input for a complete microscopic theory.

References in corpus (5)

• Visualizing pair formation on the atomic scale in the high-Tc superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d
• Interplay of electron-lattice interactions and superconductivity in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d
• Imaging the impact on cuprate superconductivity of varying the inter-atomic distances within individual crystal unit-cells
• Correlating off-stoichiometric doping with nanoscale electronic disorder and quasiparticle interference pattern in high-$T_c$ superconductor Bi${}_2$Sr${}_2$CaCu${}_2$O${}_{8+\delta }$
• Superconducting gap variations induced by structural supermodulation in BSCCO

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Multiple electronic components and Lifshitz transitions by oxygen wires formation in layered cuprates and nickelates
• Cuprate Twistronics for Quantum Hardware
• Local transformation of the Electronic Structure and Generation of Free Carriers in Cuprates and Ferropnictides under Heterovalent and Isovalent Doping
• Second Dome of Superconductivity in YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_7$ at High Pressure
• Origin of insulating-like behavior of Bi${}_2$Sr${}_2$CaCu${}_2$O${}_{8+x}$ under pressure: A first-principles study
• Gap fluctuations, Cooper pairs with finite center-of-mass momentum, and suppression of superconductivity in inhomogeneous systems with dopant superpuddles agglomerates