Mapping the orbital structure of impurity bound states in a superconductor

Deung-Jang Choi (), Carmen Rubio-Verdú, Joeri de Bruijckere, Miguel M. Ugeda, Nicolás Lorente () and Jose Ignacio Pascual ()
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Deung-Jang Choi: CIC nanoGUNE
Carmen Rubio-Verdú: CIC nanoGUNE
Joeri de Bruijckere: CIC nanoGUNE
Miguel M. Ugeda: CIC nanoGUNE
Nicolás Lorente: Centro de Física de Materiales CFM-CSIC
Jose Ignacio Pascual: CIC nanoGUNE

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract A magnetic atom inside a superconductor locally distorts superconductivity. It scatters Cooper pairs as a potential with broken time-reversal symmetry, leading to localized bound states with subgap excitation energies, named Shiba states. Most conventional approaches regarding Shiba states treat magnetic impurities as point scatterers with isotropic exchange interaction. Here, we show that the number and the shape of Shiba states are correlated to the spin-polarized atomic orbitals of the impurity, hybridized with the superconductor. Using scanning tunnelling spectroscopy, we spatially map the five Shiba excitations found on subsurface chromium atoms in Pb(111), resolving their particle and hole components. While particle components resemble d orbitals of embedded Cr atoms, hole components differ strongly from them. Density functional theory simulations correlate the orbital shapes to the magnetic ground state of the atom, and identify scattering channels and interactions, all valuable tools for designing atomic-scale superconducting devices.

Date: 2017
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms15175

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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15175

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