Unconventional spectral signature of Tc in a pure d-wave superconductor

Su-Di Chen, Makoto Hashimoto, Yu He, Dongjoon Song, Jun-Feng He, Ying-Fei Li, Shigeyuki Ishida, Hiroshi Eisaki, Jan Zaanen, Thomas P. Devereaux, Dung-Hai Lee, Dong-Hui Lu and Zhi-Xun Shen ()
Additional contact information
Su-Di Chen: Stanford University
Makoto Hashimoto: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Yu He: Stanford University
Dongjoon Song: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
Jun-Feng He: Stanford University
Ying-Fei Li: Stanford University
Shigeyuki Ishida: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
Hiroshi Eisaki: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
Jan Zaanen: Leiden University
Thomas P. Devereaux: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University
Dung-Hai Lee: University of California, Berkeley
Dong-Hui Lu: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Zhi-Xun Shen: Stanford University

Nature, 2022, vol. 601, issue 7894, 562-567

Abstract: Abstract In conventional superconductors, the phase transition into a zero-resistance and perfectly diamagnetic state is accompanied by a jump in the specific heat and the opening of a spectral gap1. In the high-transition-temperature (high-Tc) cuprates, although the transport, magnetic and thermodynamic signatures of Tc have been known since the 1980s2, the spectroscopic singularity associated with the transition remains unknown. Here we resolve this long-standing puzzle with a high-precision angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) study on overdoped (Bi,Pb)2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ (Bi2212). We first probe the momentum-resolved electronic specific heat via spectroscopy and reproduce the specific heat peak at Tc, completing the missing link for a holistic description of superconductivity. Then, by studying the full momentum, energy and temperature evolution of the spectra, we reveal that this thermodynamic anomaly arises from the singular growth of in-gap spectral intensity across Tc. Furthermore, we observe that the temperature evolution of in-gap intensity is highly anisotropic in the momentum space, and the gap itself obeys both the d-wave functional form and particle–hole symmetry. These findings support the scenario that the superconducting transition is driven by phase fluctuations. They also serve as an anchor point for understanding the Fermi arc and pseudogap phenomena in underdoped cuprates.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04251-2

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