Coexistence of stripe order and superconductivity in NaAlSi

Abstract

Here, we report a scanning tunneling microscopy study on an s-wave superconductor NaAlSi, revealing the coexistence of stripe order and superconductivity. This stripe order manifests as a unidirectional spatial charge modulation with a commensurate period of four times the lattice constant. This modulation undergoes a phase shift in the differential conductance maps under opposite bias voltages, while its period remains approximately constant over an energy range of $\pm$50 meV. These features suggest that this stripe is likely a static charge order. Furthermore, we find that the stripe order imposes a periodic modulation on the intensity of the superconducting coherence peaks. This work provides new perspectives on the intricate interplay between stripe order and s-wave superconductivity.