Oscillating paramagnetic Meissner effect and Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition in underdoped Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O₈₊

Superconducting phase transitions in two dimensions lie beyond the description of the Ginzburg-Landau symmetry-breaking paradigm for three-dimensional superconductors. They are Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transitions of paired-electron condensate driven by the unbinding of topological excitations, i.e. vortices. The recently discovered monolayers of layered high-transition-temperature (T-C) cuprate superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+delta (Bi2212) meant that this 2D superconductor promised to be ideal for the study of unconventional superconductivity. But inhomogeneity posed challenges for distinguishing BKT physics from charge correlations in this material. Here, we utilize the phase sensitivity of scanning superconducting quantum interference device microscopy susceptometry to image the local magnetic response of underdoped Bi2212 from the monolayer to the bulk throughout its phase transition. The monolayer segregates into domains with independent phases at elevated temperatures below T-C. Within a single domain, we find that the susceptibility oscillates with flux between diamagnetism and paramagnetism in a Fraunhofer-like pattern up to T-C. The finite modulation period, as well as the broadening of the peaks when approaching T-C from below, suggests well-defined vortices that are increasingly screened by the dissociation of vortex-antivortex plasma through a BKT transition. In the multilayers, the susceptibility oscillation differs in a small temperature regime below T-C, consistent with a dimensional crossover led by interlayer coupling. Serving as strong evidence for BKT transition in the bulk, we observe a sharp jump in phase stiffness and paramagnetism at small fields just below T-C. These results unify the superconducting phase transitions from the monolayer to the bulk underdoped Bi2212, and can be collectively referred to as the BKT transition with interlayer coupling.