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Magnetic field induced charge and spin instabilities in cuprate superconductors

M. Franz·D. E. Sheehy·Z. Tesanovic
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Abstract

A d-wave superconductor, subject to strong phase fluctuations, is known to suffer an antiferromagnetic instability closely related to the chiral symmetry breaking in (2+1)-dimensional quantum electrodynamics (QED3). On the basis of this idea we formulate a "QED3 in a box" theory of local instabilities of a d-wave superconductor in the vicinity of a single pinned vortex undergoing quantum fluctuations around its equilibrium position. As a generic outcome we find an incommensurate 2D spin density wave forming in the neighborhood of a vortex with a concomitant "checkerboard" pattern in the local electronic density of states, in agreement with recent neutron scattering and tunneling spectroscopy measurements.

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M. Franz, D. E. Sheehy, Z. Tesanovic. 2002-05-23. Magnetic field induced charge and spin instabilities in cuprate superconductors. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.88.257005

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