Friday, May 25, 2012

1205.5280 (Jian Kang et al.)

Dimer Impurity Scattering, "Reconstructed" Nesting and Density-Wave
Diagnostics in Iron Pnictides
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Jian Kang, Zlatko Tesanovic
While the impurity-induced nanoscale electronic disorder has been extensively reported in the underdoped iron pnictides, its microscopic origins remain elusive. Recent STM measurements reveal a dimer-type resonant structure induced by cobalt doping. These dimers are randomly distributed but uniformly aligned with the antiferromagnetic a-axis. Theory of the impurity-induced quasiparticle interference patterns is presented that shows the local density of states developing an oscillatory pattern characterized by both geometry and orbital content of the reconstructed Fermi pockets, occasioned by the pocket density wave (PDW) order along the b-axis. This pattern breaks the $C_4$ symmetry and its size and orientation compare well with the dimer resonances found in the STM experiments, hinting at the presence of "hidden" PDW order. More broadly, our theory spotlights such nanoscale structures as a useful diagnostic tool for various forms of order in iron pnictides.
View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1205.5280

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