Autocorrelation of quasiparticle spectral intensities and its connection with quasiparticle scattering interference in cuprate superconductors

ABSTRACT

The quasiparticle excitation is one of the most fundamental and ubiquitous physical observables in cuprate superconductors, carrying information about the bosonic glue forming electron pairs. Here the autocorrelation of the quasiparticle excitation spectral intensities in cuprate superconductors and its connection with the quasiparticle scattering interference are investigated based on the framework of the kinetic-energy driven superconducting mechanism by taking into account the pseudogap effect. It is shown that the octet scattering model of the quasiparticle scattering processes with the scattering wave vectors ${\mathbf{q}}_i$ connecting the hot spots on the constant energy contours is intrinsically related to the emergence of the highly anisotropic momentum-dependence of the pseudogap. Concomitantly, the sharp peaks in the autocorrelation of the quasiparticle excitation spectral intensities with the wave vectors ${\mathbf{q}}_i$ are directly correlated to the regions of the highest joint density of states. Moreover, the momentum-space structure of the autocorrelation patterns of the quasiparticle excitation spectral intensities is well consistent with the momentum-space structure of the quasiparticle scattering interference patterns observed from Fourier-transform scanning tunnelling spectroscopy experiments. The theory therefore confirms an intimate connection between the angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy autocorrelation and quasiparticle scattering interference in cuprate superconductors.

KEYWORDS:

• ARPES autocorrelation
• quasiparticle scattering interference
• octet scattering model
• cuprate superconductors

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Huaisong Zhao for the helpful discussions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China under Grant No. 2016YFA0300304, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 11574032 and 11734002.