Quasi-One-Dimensional Topological-Excitation Liquid in Bi2212 from Tunneling Spectroscopy

Abstract

Tunneling measurements have been carried out on heavily underdoped, slightly overdoped and partially Ni-substituted Bi2212 single crystals by using a break-junction technique. We find that in-plane tunneling spectra below Tc are the combination of incoherent part from the pseudogap and coherent quasiparticle peaks. There is a clear correlation between the magnitude of the pseudogap and the magnitude of the superconducting gap in Bi2212. The analysis of the data suggests that the tunneling pseudogap in Bi2212 is predominantly a charge-density-wave gap on dynamical charge stripes. The tunneling characteristics corresponding to the quasiparticle peaks are in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions made for a quasi-one dimensional topological-excitation liquid. In addition, the analysis of data measured by different techniques shows that the phase coherence along the c-axis is established at Tc due to spin fluctuations in local antiferromagnetic domains of CuO2 planes.