Impurity induced resonant state in a pseudogap state of a high temperature superconductor

Abstract

We predict a resonance impurity state generated by the substitution of one Cu atom with a nonmagnetic atom, such as Zn, in the pseudogap state of a high-T_c superconductor. The precise microscopic origin of the pseudogap is not important for this state to be formed, in particular this resonance will be present even in the absence of superconducting fluctuations in the normal state. In the presence of superconducting fluctuations, we predict the existence of a counterpart impurity peak on a symmetric bias. The nature of impurity resonance is similar to the previously studied resonance in the d-wave superconducting state.