Theory of Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Probe of Impurity States in a D-Wave Superconductor.

Scanning tunneling microscopy can provide a probe for the detailed study of quasiparticle states in high-{ital T}{sub {ital c}} superconductors. We propose that it can also be used to acquire specific information about impurity-induced quasiparticle states and the superconducting order-parameter structure. In particular, the local density of states is found to be sensitive to impurity-induced resonances and to the symmetry of the order parameter. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}