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In the study of dynamic charge order correlations in the cuprates, most high energy-resolution resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) measurements have focused on momenta along the high-symmetry directions of the copper oxide plane. However, electron scattering along other in-plane directions should not be neglected as they may contain information relevant, for example, to the origin of charge order correlations or to our understanding of the isotropic scattering responsible for strange metal behavior in cuprates. We report high-resolution resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) experiments that reveal the presence of dynamic electron correlations over the $q_x$-$q_y$ scattering plane in underdoped $\textrm{Bi}_2\textrm{Sr}_2\textrm{Ca}\textrm{Cu}_2\textrm{O}_{8+δ}$ with $T_c=54$ K. We use the softening of the RIXS-measured bond stretching phonon line as a marker for the presence of charge-order-related dynamic electron correlations. The experiments show that these dynamic correlations exist at energies below approximately $70$ meV and are centered around a quasi-circular manifold in the $q_x$-$q_y$ scattering plane with radius equal to the magnitude of the charge order wave vector, $q_{CO}$. We also demonstrate how this phonon-tracking procedure provides the necessary experimental precision to rule out fluctuations of short-range directional charge order (i.e. centered around $[q_x=\pm q_{CO}, q_y=0]$ and $[q_x=0, q_y=\pm q_{CO}]$) as the origin of the observed correlations., Submitted and under review

In the doped topological insulator Sr$_x$Bi$_2$Se$_3$, a pronounced in-plane two-fold symmetry is observed in electronic properties below the superconducting transition temperature $T_c \sim$ 3 K, despite the three-fold symmetry of the observed $R\bar{3}m$ space group. The axis of two-fold symmetry is nominally pinned to one of three rotational equivalent directions and crystallographic strain has been proposed to be the origin of this pinning. We carried out multimodal synchrotron diffraction and resistivity measurements down to $\sim$0.68 K and in magnetic fields up to 45 kG on a single crystal of Sr$_{0.1}$Bi$_2$Se$_3$ to probe the effect of superconductivity on the crystallographic distortion. Our results indicate that there is no in-plane crystallographic distortion at the level of $1x10^{-5}$ associated with the superconducting transition. These results further support the model that the large two-fold in-plane anisotropy of superconducting properties of Sr$_x$Bi$_2$Sr$_3$ is not structural in origin but electronic, namely it is caused by a nematic superconducting order parameter of Eu symmetry., 7 pages, 6 figures

We observe proximity-induced superconductivity in the \textit{in situ} prepared heterostructures constructed by topological insulator Bi$_{2}$Te$_{3}$ thin films and high-temperature cuprate superconductors Bi$_{2}$Sr$_{2}$CaCu$_{2}$O$_{8+��}$. The superconducting gap maximum is about 7.6 meV on the surface of Bi$_{2}$Te$_{3}$ thin films with a thickness of two quintuple layers, and the gap value decreases with an increase in the film thickness. Moreover, the quasiparticle interference data show a clear evidence of a twofold symmetric superconducting gap with gap minima along one pair of the principal crystalline axes of Bi$_{2}$Te$_{3}$. This gap form is consistent with the $��_{4y}$ notation of the topological superconductivity proposed in such systems. Our results provide fruitful information of the possible topological superconductivity induced by the proximity effect in high-temperature superconducting cuprates., 6 pages, 4 figures

Establishing the presence and the nature of a quantum critical point in their phase diagram is a central enigma of the high-temperature superconducting cuprates. It could explain their pseudogap and strange metal phases, and ultimately their high superconducting temperatures. Yet, while solid evidences exist in several unconventional superconductors of ubiquitous critical fluctuations associated to a quantum critical point, in the cuprates they remain undetected until now. Here using symmetry-resolved electronic Raman scattering in the cuprate Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+��}$, we report the observation of enhanced electronic nematic fluctuations near the endpoint of the pseudogap phase. While our data hint at the possible presence of an incipient nematic quantum critical point, the doping dependence of the nematic fluctuations deviates significantly from a canonical quantum critical scenario. The observed nematic instability rather appears to be tied to the presence of a van Hove singularity in the band structure., 28 pages, 7 figures, including SM

Cooper pairs of mutually attracting electrons form the building blocks of superconductivity. Thirty years after the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in cuprates, many details of the pairs remain unknown, including their size and shape. Here we apply brand new ARPES-based methods that allow us to reconstruct the shape and size of the pairs in Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+{\delta}}$. The pairs are seen to form a characteristic starfish shape that is very long (>50{\AA}) in the near-nodal direction but extremely short (~4.5{\AA}) in the antinodal (Cu-O) direction. We find that this ultrashort antinodal length scale, which is of order a lattice constant, is approximately constant over a wide range of doping levels even as many other parameters including the pairing strength change. This suggests that this new length scale, along with the pair shape, is one of the most fundamental characteristics of the pairs. Further, the shape and ultrashort length scale should make the pairs create or intertwine with variations in charge and pair density, center on various types of lattice positions, and potentially explain aspects of the nematic order in these materials.

We study the behavior of the pseudogap in overdoped Bi$_{2}$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+d}$ by electronic Raman scattering (ERS) and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) on the same single crystals. Using both techniques we find that, unlike the superconducting gap, the pseudogap related to the anti-bonding band vanishes above the critical doping p$_c$ = 0.22. Concomitantly, we show from ARPES measurements that the Fermi surface of the anti-bonding band is hole-like below pc and becomes electron-like above p$_c$. This reveals that the appearance of the pseudogap depends on the Fermi surface topology in Bi$_{2}$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+d}$ , and more generally, puts strong constraint on theories of the pseudogap phase., Comment: 6 pages , 3 figures

Here we use angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to study superconductivity that emerges in two extreme cases, from a Fermi liquid phase (LiFeAs) and an incoherent bad-metal phase (FeTe0.55Se0.45). We find that although the electronic coherence can strongly reshape the single-particle spectral function in the superconducting state, it is decoupled from the maximum superconducting pairing amplitude, which shows a universal scaling that is valid for all FeSCs. Our observation excludes pairing scenarios in the BCS and the BEC limit for FeSCs and calls for a universal strong coupling pairing mechanism for the FeSCs., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures

The temperature dependence of the London penetration depth $\Delta\lambda(T)$ in the superconducting doped topological crystalline insulator Sn$_{1-x}$In$_x$Te was measured down to 450 mK for two different doping levels, x $\approx$ 0.45 (optimally doped) and x $\approx$ 0.10 (underdoped), bookending the range of cubic phase in the compound. The results indicate no deviation from fully gapped BCS-like behavior, eliminating several candidate unconventional gap structures. Critical field values below 1 K and other superconducting parameters are also presented. The introduction of disorder by repeated particle irradiation with 5 MeV protons does not enhance $T_c$, indicating that ferroelectric interactions do not compete with superconductivity., Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures

Charge density wave (CDW) correlations feature prominently in the phase diagram of the cuprates, motivating competing theories of whether fluctuating CDW correlations aid superconductivity or whether static CDW order coexists with superconductivity in inhomogeneous or spatially modulated states. Here we report Cu $L$-edge resonant x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) measurements of CDW correlations in superconducting La$_{2-x}$Ba$_x$CuO$_4$ $x=0.11$. Static CDW order is shown to exist in the superconducting state at low temperatures and to persist up to at least 85\% of the CDW transition temperature. We discuss the implications of our observations for how \emph{nominally} competing order parameters can coexist in the cuprates., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, Accepted in Phys. Rev. B Rapid Communications

Combining electronic Raman scattering experiments with cellular dynamical mean field theory, we present evidence of the pseudogap in the superconducting state of various hole-doped cuprates. In Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d we track the superconducting pseudogap hallmark, a peak-dip feature, as a function of temperature T and doping p, well beyond the optimal one. We show that, at all temperatures under the superconducting dome, the pseudogap disappears at the doping pc, between 0.222 and 0.226, where also the normal-state pseudogap collapses at a Lifshitz transition. This demonstrates that the superconducting pseudogap boundary forms a vertical line in the T-p phase diagram., Comment: 8 pages and 8 figures

In complex materials various interactions play important roles in determining the material properties. Angle Resolved Photoelectron Spectroscopy (ARPES) has been used to study these processes by resolving the complex single particle self energy $\Sigma(E)$ and quantifying how quantum interactions modify bare electronic states. However, ambiguities in the measurement of the real part of the self energy and an intrinsic inability to disentangle various contributions to the imaginary part of the self energy often leave the implications of such measurements open to debate. Here we employ a combined theoretical and experimental treatment of femtosecond time-resolved ARPES (tr-ARPES) and show how measuring the population dynamics using tr-ARPES can be used to separate electron-boson interactions from electron-electron interactions. We demonstrate the analysis of a well-defined electron-boson interaction in the unoccupied spectrum of the cuprate Bi$_{2}$Sr$_{2}$CaCu$_{2}$O$_{8+x}$ characterized by an excited population decay time constant $\tau_{QP}$ that maps directly to a discrete component of the equilibrium self energy not readily isolated by static ARPES experiments., Comment: 19 pages with 6 figures

Topological superconductivity, implying gapless protected surface states, has recently been proposed to exist in the compound CuxBi2Se3. Unfortunately, low diamagnetic shielding fractions and considerable inhomogeneity have been reported in this compound. In an attempt to understand and improve on the finite superconducting volume fractions, we have investigated the effects of various growth and post-annealing conditions. With a melt-growth (MG) method, diamagnetic shielding fractions of up to 56% in Cu0.3Bi2Se3 have been obtained, the highest value reported for this method. We investigate the efficacy of various quenching and annealing conditions, finding that quenching from temperatures above 560C is essential for superconductivity, whereas quenching from lower temperatures or not quenching at all is detrimental. A modified floating zone (FZ) method yielded large single crystals but little superconductivity. Even after annealing and quenching, FZ-grown samples had much less chance of being superconducting than MG-grown samples. From the low shielding fractions in FZ-grown samples and the quenching dependence, we suggest that a metastable secondary phase having a small volume fraction in most of the samples may be responsible for the superconductivity., 8 pages, 2 figures; to appear in Physical Review B

Superconductors derived from topological insulators and topological crystalline insulators by doping have long been considered to be candidates as topological superconductors. Pb$_{0.5}$Sn$_{0.5}$Te is a topological crystalline insulator with mirror symmetry protected surface states on (001), (011) and (111) oriented surfaces. The superconductor (Pb$_{0.5}$Sn$_{0.5}$)$_{0.7}$In$_{0.3}$Te is induced by In doping in Pb$_{0.5}$Sn$_{0.5}$Te, and is thought to be a topological superconductor. Here we report the first scanning tunneling spectroscopy measurement of the superconducting state as well as the superconducting energy gap in (Pb$_{0.5}$Sn$_{0.5}$)$_{0.7}$In$_{0.3}$Te on a (001)-oriented surface. The spectrum can be well fitted by an anisotropic $s$-wave gap function of $\Delta=0.72+0.18\cos4\theta$ meV using Dynes model. The results show that the quasi-particle density of states seem to be fully gapped without any in-gap states, in contradiction with the expectation of a topological superconductor., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

Indium substitution turns the topological crystalline insulator (TCI) Pb$_{0.5}$Sn$_{0.5}$Te into a possible topological superconductor. To investigate the effect of the indium concentration on the crystal structure and superconducting properties of (Pb$_{0.5}$Sn$_{0.5}$)$_{1-x}$In$_{x}$Te, we have grown high-quality single crystals using a modified floating-zone method, and have performed systematic studies for indium content in the range $0\leq x\leq 0.35$. We find that the single crystals retain the rock salt structure up to the solubility limit of indium ($x\sim0.30$). Experimental dependences of the superconducting transition temperature ($T_c$) and the upper critical magnetic field ($H_{c2}$) on the indium content $x$ have been measured. The maximum $T_c$ is determined to be 4.7 K at $x=0.30$, with $\mu_0H_{c2}(T=0)\approx 5$ T., Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures

We report a fine tuned doping study of strongly overdoped Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+��}$ single crystals using electronic Raman scattering. Combined with theoretical calculations, we show that the doping, at which the normal state pseudogap closes, coincides with a Lifshitz quantum phase transition where the active hole-like Fermi surface becomes electron-like. This conclusion suggests that the microscopic cause of the pseudogap is sensitive to the Fermi surface topology. Furthermore, we find that the superconducting transition temperature is unaffected by this transition, demonstrating that their origins are different on the overdoped side., 11 figures, 10 pages

The so-called "strange metal phase" [1] of high temperature (high Tc) superconductors remains at the heart of the high Tc mystery. Better experimental data and insightful theoretical work would improve our understanding of this enigmatic phase. In particular, the recent advance in angle resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES) [2, 3], incorporating low photon energies (about 7 eV), has given a much more refined view of the many body interaction in these materials. Here, we report a new ARPES feature of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d that we demonstrate to have the key ability to distinguish between different classes of theories of the normal state. This feature---the anomaly in the nodal many body density of states (nMBDOS)---is clearly observed in the low energy ARPES data, but also observed in more conventional high energy ARPES data, when a sufficient temperature range is covered. We show that key characteristics of this anomaly are explained by a strong electron correlation model; the electron-hole asymmetry and the momentum dependent self energy emerge as key required ingredients.

Conventional superconductivity is robust against the addition of impurities unless the impurities are magnetic in which case superconductivity is quickly suppressed. Here we present a study of the cuprate superconductor Bi$_2$Sr$_2$Ca$_1$Cu$_2$O$_{8+\delta}$ that is intentionally doped with the magnetic impurity, Fe. Through the use of our Tomographic Density of States (TDoS) technique, we find that while the superconducting gap magnitude is essentially unaffected by the inclusion of iron, the onset of superconductivity, T$_{C}$, and the pair-breaking rate are strongly dependent and correlated. These findings suggest that, in the cuprates, the pair-breaking rate is critical to the determination of T$_{C}$ and that magnetic impurities do not disrupt the strength of pairing but rather the lifetime of the pairs., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures