Detecting the quantum zero-point motion of vortices in the cuprate superconductors

Abstract

We explore the experimental implications of a recent theory of the quantum dynamics of vortices in two-dimensional superfluids proximate to Mott insulators. The theory predicts modulations in the local density of states in the regions over which the vortices execute their quantum zero point motion. We use the spatial extent of such modulations in scanning tunnelling microscopy measurements on the vortex lattice of BSCCO to estimate the inertial mass of a point vortex. We discuss other, more direct, experimental signatures of the vortex dynamics.

24 pages, 5 figures; expanded version of cond-mat/0502002, with details of calculations

References in corpus (3)

• Putting competing orders in their place near the Mott transition
• Charge modulation, spin response, and dual Hofstadter butterfly in high-Tc cuprates
• Competing orders II: the doped quantum dimer model

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Theory of the Nernst effect near quantum phase transitions in condensed matter, and in dyonic black holes
• Microscopic spin-wave theory for yttrium-iron garnet films
• Emergence of Cooper pairs, d-wave duality and the phase diagram of cuprate superconductors
• Valence bond solid order near impurities in two-dimensional quantum antiferromagnets
• Evidence of zero point fluctuation of vortices in a very weakly pinned a-MoGe thin film
• Influence of the quantum zero-point motion of a vortex on the electronic spectra of s-wave superconductors
• Vortex structure in a $d$-wave superconductor obtained by a confinement transition from the pseudogap metal