Origin of the Electron-Hole Asymmetry in the Scanning Tunneling Spectrum of the High-Temperature<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:msub><mml:mi>Bi</mml:mi><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:msub><mml:msub><mml:mi>Sr</mml:mi><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:msub><mml:msub><mml:mi>CaCu</mml:mi><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:msub><mml:msub><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">O</mml:mi><mml:mrow><mml:mn>8</mml:mn><mml:mo>+</mml:mo><mml:mi>δ</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msub></mml:math>Superconductor

We have developed a material specific theoretical framework for modeling scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) of high-temperature superconducting materials in the normal as well as the superconducting state. Results for Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+delta (Bi2212) show clearly that the tunneling process strongly modifies the STS spectrum from the local density of states of the dx2-y2 orbital of Cu. The dominant tunneling channel to the surface Bi involves the dx2-y2 orbitals of the four neighboring Cu atoms. In accord with experimental observations, the computed spectrum displays a remarkable asymmetry between the processes of electron injection and extraction, which arises from contributions of Cu dz2 and other orbitals to the tunneling current.

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