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In conventional superconductors, magnetic impurities form an impurity band due to quantum interference of the impurity bound states, leading to suppression of the superconducting transition temperature. Such quantum interference effects can also be expected in d-wave superconductors. Here, we use scanning tunneling microscopy to investigate the effect of multiple non-magnetic impurities on the local electronic structure of the high-temperature superconductor Bi$_{2}$Sr$_{2}$Ca(Cu$_{1-x}$Zn$_{x}$)$_{2}$O$_{8+\delta}$. We find several fingerprints of quantum interference of the impurity bound states including: (i) a two-dimensional modulation of local density-of-states with a period of approximately 5.4 \AA\ along the $a$- and $b$-axes, which is indicative of the d-wave superconducting nature of the cuprates; (ii) abrupt spatial variations of the impurity bound state energy; (iii)an appearance of positive energy states; (iv) a split of the impurity bound state. All of these findings provide important insight into how the impurity band in d-wave superconductors is formed., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, to be published in PRB

We use scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy to explore the electronic structure of Fe$_{1.07}$Te which is the parent compound of the iron-chalcogenide superconductors. A unidirectional electronic structure with a period of $a_{0}$ (where $a_{0}$ is the lattice constant) along the a-axis is observed. The unidirectional pattern is visible within an energy range from approximately -200 to +130 meV. Since the direction of the unidirectional electronic structure coincides with those of the underlying antiferromagnetic and the predicted orbital orders, it is presumable that the observed unidirectional structure is closely tied to these orders and is peculiar to the parent state in iron-based superconductors., Comment: 6 pages 5 figures

Using Scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS), we report the correlation between spatial gap inhomogeneity and the zinc (Zn) impurity resonance in single crystals of Bi$_{\mathrm{2}}$Sr$_{\mathrm{2}}$Ca(Cu$_{\mathrm{1-}x}$Zn$_{x}$)$_{\mathrm{2}}$O$_{\mathrm{8+}\delta}$ with different carrier (hole) concentrations ($p$) at a fixed Zn concentration ($x$ $\sim$ 0.5 % per Cu atom). In all the samples, the impurity resonance lies only in the region where the gap value is less than $\sim$ 60 meV. Also the number of Zn resonance sites drastically decreases with decreasing $p$, in spite of the fixed $x$. These experimental results lead us to a conclusion that the Zn impurity resonance does not appear in the large gap region although the Zn impurity evidently resides in this region., Comment: Phys. Rev. B Rapid Communication (Published) 4 pages, 3 figures

We report on the first investigation of the quasiparticle local density of states and superconducting gap in the iron chalcogenide superconductor Fe$_{1+\delta}$Se$_{1-x}$Te$_{x}$ ($T_{\mathrm{c}} \sim 14$ K). The surface of a cleaved crystal revealed an atomic square lattice, superimposed on the inhomogeneous background, with a lattice constant of $\sim 3.8$ \AA without any reconstruction. Tunneling spectra measured at 4.2 K exhibit the superconducting gap, which completely disappears at 18 K, with a magnitude of $\sim 2.3$ meV, corresponding to $2\Delta / k_{\mathrm{B}}T_{\mathrm{c}}=3.8$.In stark contrast to the cuprate superconductors, the value of the observed superconducting gap is relatively homogeneous, following a sharp distribution with a small standard deviation of 0.23 meV. Conversely, the normal-state local density of states observed above $T_{\mathrm{c}}$ shows spatial variation over a wide energy range of more than 1 eV, probably due to the excess iron present in the crystal., Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures