In-plane Tunneling Spectrum into a [110]-Oriented High-$T_c$ Superconductor in the Pseudogap Regime

Abstract

Both the differential tunneling conductance and the surface local density of states (LDOS) of a [110]-oriented high-temperature superconductor in the pseudogap (PG) regime are studied theoretically. As a competing candidate for the mechanism of PG state, the charge-density wave (CDW), spin-density wave (SDW), $d$-density wave (DDW), and d-wave superconducting (DSC) orderings show distinct features in the tunneling conductance. For the CDW, SDW, and DSC orderings, the tunneling conductance approaches the surface LDOS as the barrier potential is increased. For the DDW ordering, we show for the first time that there exist midgap states at the [110] surface, manifesting themselves as a sharp zero-energy peak in the LDOS, as in the case of DSC ordering. However, due to the particle-hole pair nature of the DDW state, these states do not carry current, and consequently the one-to-one correspondence between the tunneling conductance and the surface LDOS is absent.