Quasiparticle Interference as a Direct Experimental Probe of Bulk Odd-Frequency Superconducting Pairing.

Phys Rev Lett

Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, S-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden.

Published: December 2022

We show that quasiparticle interference (QPI) due to omnipresent weak impurities and probed by Fourier transform scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy acts as a direct experimental probe of bulk odd-frequency superconducting pairing. Taking the example of a conventional s-wave superconductor under applied magnetic field, we show that the nature of the QPI peaks can only be characterized by including the odd-frequency pairing correlations generated in this system. In particular, we identify that the defining feature of odd-frequency pairing gives rise to a bias asymmetry in the QPI, present generically in materials with odd-frequency pairing irrespective of its origin.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.247001DOI Listing

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