Physics (Internal)

Visualizing Complex Electronic Quantum Matter

This event is part of the Physics Department Colloquia Series.

I will describe recent developments of low temperature 'Spectroscopic Imaging' STM techniques for transition metal oxides. They allow us to visualize the Complex Electronic Quantum Matter in such systems, directly at the atomic scale. As an example, we will visually explore the strange and beautiful nanoscale electronic structure of High-Tc Superconductors. One of the most startling discoveries was the intense Superconducting Pair Energy Disorder at nanoscale. Another was strong scattering and quantum-mixing of delocalized states producing beautiful Quantum Interference Patterns. Yet another was the impact of Electron-Lattice Interactions disordered at the atomic scale. And individual impurity atom mapping techniques now reveal how Individual Dopant Atoms generate most of these forms of nanoscale electronic disorder. A quite different sort of discovery was the spontaneous electronic reorganization into 4X4 'Checkerboard' States inside vortex cores and at very low doping. We will discuss the structure and potential significance of these 'checkerboard' ordering phenomena and the emerging overall picture of real-space electronic structure in high-Tc cuprates.