Hyperbolic Fringe Signal for Twin Impurity Quasiparticle Interference

Phys Rev Lett. 2023 Jun 23;130(25):256001. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.256001.

Abstract

We study the quasiparticle interference (QPI) pattern emanating from a pair of adjacent impurities on the surface of a gapped superconductor (SC). We find that hyperbolic fringes (HFs) in the QPI signal can appear due to the loop contribution of the two-impurity scattering, where the locations of the two impurities are the hyperbolic focus points. For a single pocket Fermiology, a HF pattern signals chiral SC order for nonmagnetic impurities and requires magnetic impurities for a nonchiral SC. For a multipocket scenario, a sign-changing order parameter such as an s_{±} wave likewise yields a HF signature. We discuss twin impurity QPI as a new tool to complement the analysis of superconducting order from local spectroscopy.