Effect of dopant atoms on local superexchange in cuprate superconductors: A perturbative treatment

Recent scanning tunneling spectroscopy experiments have provided evidence that dopant impurities in high-T-c superconductors can strongly modify the electronic structure of the CuO2 planes nearby, and possibly influence the pairing. To investigate this connection, we calculate the local magnetic superexchange J between Cu ions in the presence of dopants within the framework of the three-band Hubbard model, up to fifth order in perturbation theory. We demonstrate that the sign of the change in J depends on the relative dopant-induced spatial variation of the atomic levels in the CuO2 plane, contrary to results obtained within the one-band Hubbard model. We discuss some realistic cases and their relevance for theories of the pairing mechanism in the cuprates.