Spectral signatures of competing phases in cuprate superconductors

Bill Atkinson

Department of Physics, Trent University

One of the most interesting aspects of the cuprate superconductors is that, with doping, one can tune them from a metallic to a Mott-insulating phase. The details of how the electronic structure evolves as one dopes are poorly understood, and a considerable range of theories (including competing order, phase fluctuations, and spin-fluctuation models) have been proposed. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments provide important experimental constraints on the proposed models, but are not yet well understood. In this talk I will outline recent efforts to understand the STM experiments whithin a semi-phenomenological model of competing phases, and discuss in general terms what STM experiments appear to tell us about competing-phase models.