Why scanning tunneling microscopy on Sr₂RuO₄ sometimes doesn’t see the superconducting gap
- canning tunneling microscopy (STM) is perhaps the most promising way to detect the superconducting gap size and structure in the canonical unconventional superconductor Sr2RuO4 directly. However, in many cases, researchers have reported being unable to detect the gap at all in simple STM conductance measurements. Recently, an investigation of this issue on various local topographic structures on a Sr-terminated surface found that superconducting spectra appeared only in the region of small nanoscale canyons, corresponding to the removal of one RuO surface layer. Here, we analyze the electronic structure of various possible surface structures using first principles methods, and argue that bulk conditions favorable for superconductivity can be achieved when removal of the RuO layer suppresses the RuO4 octahedral rotation locally. We further propose alternative terminations to the most frequently reported Sr termination where superconductivity surfaces should be observed.
| Author: | Adrian ValadkhaniORCiD, Jonas Benedikt ProfeORCiDGND, Andreas KreiselORCiDGND, Peter J. HirschfeldORCiDGND, Roser ValentíORCiDGND |
|---|---|
| URN: | urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-860262 |
| URL: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.13106v1 |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.48550/ARXIV.2405.13106 |
| ArXiv Id: | http://arxiv.org/abs/2405.13106 |
| Parent Title (German): | arXiv |
| Publisher: | arXiv |
| Document Type: | Preprint |
| Language: | English |
| Date of Publication (online): | 2024/05/21 |
| Date of first Publication: | 2024/05/21 |
| Publishing Institution: | Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg |
| Release Date: | 2024/07/01 |
| Issue: | 2405.13106v1 |
| Edition: | Version 1 |
| Page Number: | 10 |
| Institutes: | Physik / Physik |
| Dewey Decimal Classification: | 5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 53 Physik / 530 Physik |
| Sammlungen: | Universitätspublikationen |
| Licence (German): |  Creative Commons - CC BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International |
