ARPES detection of superconducting gap sign in unconventional superconductors

• Published in: Nature communications 2024-05, Vol.15 (1), p.4538-4538, Article 4538
• Main Authors: Gao, Qiang, Bok, Jin Mo, Ai, Ping, Liu, Jing, Yan, Hongtao, Luo, Xiangyu, Cai, Yongqing, Li, Cong, Wang, Yang, Yin, Chaohui, Chen, Hao, Gu, Genda, Zhang, Fengfeng, Yang, Feng, Zhang, Shenjin, Peng, Qinjun, Zhu, Zhihai, Liu, Guodong, Xu, Zuyan, Xiang, Tao, Zhao, Lin, Choi, Han-Yong, Zhou, X. J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 639/766/119/1003; 639/766/119/995; Banded structure; CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; electronic properties and materials; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Photoelectric emission; Photoelectron spectroscopy; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Spectroscopy; Spectrum analysis; superconducting properties and materials; Superconductivity; Symmetry; Unconventional superconductors
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48610-9

The superconducting gap symmetry is crucial in understanding the underlying superconductivity mechanism. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) has played a key role in determining the gap symmetry in unconventional superconductors. However, it has been considered so far that ARPES can only measure the magnitude of the superconducting gap but not its phase; the phase has to be detected by other phase-sensitive techniques. Here we propose a method to directly detect the superconducting gap sign by ARPES. This method is successfully validated in a cuprate superconductor Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8+ δ with a well-known d -wave gap symmetry. When two bands have a strong interband interaction, the resulted electronic structures in the superconducting state are sensitive to the relative gap sign between the two bands. Our present work provides an approach to detect the gap sign and can be applied to various superconductors, particularly those with multiple orbitals like the iron-based superconductors. According to conventional wisdom, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) can only measure the magnitude of the superconducting gap but not its phase. Here, the authors propose a new method to directly detect the superconducting gap phase using ARPES and validate this technique on a cuprate superconductor.