Staggered currents in the mixed state

Abstract

The current pattern in the mixed state of high-$T_{c}$ superconductors is studied in the U(1) mean field theory of the t-J model. Our findings are the following. 1) In the absence of antiferromagnetism a robust staggered current pattern exists in the core of vortices if the doping is not too high. 2) At a fixed doping and with increasing magnetic field, the size of the staggered current core expands, and eventually percolates. 3) The polarity of the staggered current is pinned by the direction of the magnetic field. 4) Vortex cores locally modify the hole density - in a staggered (non-staggered) core, the excess charge is slightly negative (positive). 5) Gutzwiller projection does not wash out the staggered current. Finally we present two experimental predictions concerning neutron scattering and STM spectra that capture the signature of the staggered current induced by the vortices.