Spectroscopic imaging STM studies of broken electronic symmetries in underdoped cuprates
Abstract
We use spectroscopic imaging scanning tunneling microscopy (SI-STM) to visualize the spatial symmetries of the electronic states that occur at the pseudogap energy scale in underdoped cuprates. We find evidence for the local intra-unit-cell electronic nematicity - by which we mean the disordered breaking of C 4v symmetry within each CuO 2 unit cell [1]. We also find that the coexisting incommensurate (smectic) electronic modulations couple to the intra-unit-cell nematicity through their 2π topological defects [2]. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Date Published
Journal
Physica B: Condensed Matter
Volume
407
Issue
11
Number of Pages
1859-1863,
URL
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84859556173&doi=10.1016%2fj.physb.2012.01.049&partnerID=40&md5=a436ababa4403a5bc5d119696442154a
DOI
10.1016/j.physb.2012.01.049