Signature of the staggered flux state around a superconducting vortex in underdoped cuprates

Abstract

Based on the SU(2) lattice-gauge-theory formulation of the $t\ensuremath{-}J$ model, we discuss a possible signature of the unit-cell doubling associated with the staggered-flux (SF) state in the lightly doped spin liquid. Although the SF state appears only dynamically in a uniform d-wave superconducting state, a topological defect [SU(2) vortex] freezes the SF state inside the vortex core. Consequently, the unit-cell doubling shows up in the hopping $({\ensuremath{\chi}}_{\mathrm{ij}})$ and pairing $({\ensuremath{\Delta}}_{\mathrm{ij}})$ order parameters of physical electrons. We find that whereas the center in the vortex core is a SF state, as one moves away from the core center, a correlated staggered modulation of ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{\mathrm{ij}}$ and ${\ensuremath{\Delta}}_{\mathrm{ij}}$ becomes predominant. We predict that over the region outside the core and inside the internal gauge-field-penetration depth around a vortex center, the local density of states exhibits a staggered peak-dip (SPD) structure inside the V-shaped profile when measured on the bonds. The SPD structure has its direct origin in the unit-cell doubling associated with the SF core and the robust topological texture, which has little to do with the symmetry of the d-wave order parameter. Therefore the structure may survive the tunneling-matrix-element effects and easily be detected by the scanning-tunnel-microscope experiment.