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Phys. Rev. B 73, 014511 (2006) [9 pages]

Fourier-transformed local density of states and tunneling into a d-wave superconductor with bosonic modes

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Jian-Xin Zhu and A. V. Balatsky
Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA

T. P. Devereaux
Department of Physics, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3GI

Qimiao Si
Department of Physics & Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA

J. Lee, K. McElroy, and J. C. Davis
LASSP, Department of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14850, USA

Received 22 June 2005; revised 21 November 2005; published 12 January 2006

We study the effects of the electronic coupling to bosonic modes on scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) into a d-wave superconductor. We propose to investigate these effects by means of a different technique: a Fourier transformed inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy (FT-IETS). Specifically, in this technique, the Fourier spectrum of the energy derivative local density of states is addressed, which is proportional to the (d2IdV2)(q,eV) characteristics measured in FT-IETS STM. We consider the role of the electron scattering due to a boson with the specific examples of the B1g phonon, the breathing mode phonon, and spin resonance at (π,π). It is found that the B1g mode with a highly anisotropic momentum-dependent coupling matrix element gives rise to well defined features in the Fourier spectrum, at the energy of mode plus gap, with a momentum transfer along the Cu-O bond direction of cuprates. This result is in striking contrast to the cases of the coupling to other modes and also to the case of no mode coupling. The origin of this difference is explored in detail. A comparison with the recent STM experiments is briefly discussed.

© 2006 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.73.014511
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevB.73.014511
PACS:
74.25.Jb, 74.50.+r, 74.20.−z, 73.20.Hb