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Quantum interference in nested d-wave superconductors: a real-space perspective

W. A. Atkinson·P. J. Hirschfeld·Lingyin Zhu
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Abstract

We study the local density of states around potential scatterers in d-wave superconductors, and show that quantum interference between impurity states is not negligible for experimentally relevant impurity concentrations. The two impurity model is used as a paradigm to understand these effects analytically and in interpreting numerical solutions of the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations on fully disordered systems. We focus primarily on the globally particle-hole symmetric model which has been the subject of considerable controversy, and give evidence that a zero-energy delta function exists in the DOS. The anomalous spectral weight at zero energy is seen to arise from resonant impurity states belonging to a particular sublattice, exactly as in the 2-impurity version of this model. We discuss the implications of these findings for realistic models of the cuprates.

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W. A. Atkinson, P. J. Hirschfeld, Lingyin Zhu. 2003-01-31. Quantum interference in nested d-wave superconductors: a real-space perspective. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.68.054501

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