No Arabic abstract
We consider a general Hamiltonian describing coexistence of itinerant ferromagnetism, spin-orbit coupling and mixed spin-singlet/triplet superconducting pairing in the context of mean-field theory. The Hamiltonian is diagonalized and exact eigenvalues are obtained, thus allowing us to write down the coupled gap equations for the different order parameters. Our results may then be applied to any model describing coexistence of any combination of these three phenomena. As a specific application of our results, we consider tunneling between a normal metal and a noncentrosymmetric superconductor with mixed singlet and triplet gaps. The conductance spectrum reveals information about these gaps in addition to how the influence of spin-orbit coupling is manifested. We also consider the coexistence of itinerant ferromagnetism and triplet superconductivity as a model for recently discovered ferromagnetic superconductors. The coupled gap equations are solved self-consistently, and we study the conditions necessary to obtain the coexistent regime of ferromagnetism and superconductivity. Analytical expressions are presented for the order parameters, and we provide an analysis of the free energy to identify the preferred system state. Moreover, we make specific predictions concerning the heat capacity for a ferromagnetic superconductor. In particular, we report a nonuniversal relative jump in the specific heat, depending on the magnetization of the system, at the uppermost superconducting phase transition. [Shortened abstract due to arXiv submission.]
We will present elementary scaling arguments focussed on the thermodynamics in the proximity of the quantum critical point in the cuprate superconductors. Extending the analysis centered on the Gruneisen parameter by Rosch, Si and coworkers to the cuprates, we demonstrate that a combination of specific heat- and chemical potential measurements can reveal the nature of the zero temperature singularity. From the known specific heat data it follows that the effective number of time dimensions has to equal the number of space dimensions, while we find a total of six scaling laws governing the temperature and density dependence of the chemical potential, revealing directly the coupling constant scaling dimension.
We study noncentrosymmetric superconductors with the tetrahedral $T_d$, tetragonal $C_{4v}$, and cubic point group $O$. The order parameter is computed self-consistently in the bulk and near a surface for several different singlet to triplet order parameter ratios. It is shown that a second phase transition below $T_c$ is possible for certain parameter values. In order to determine the surface orientations effect on the order parameter suppression, the latter is calculated for a range of different surface orientations. For selected self-consistent order parameter profiles the surface density of states is calculated showing intricate structure of the Andreev bound states (ABS) as well as spin polarization. The topologys effect on the surface states and the tunnel conductance is thoroughly investigated, and a topological phase diagram is constructed for open and closed Fermi surfaces showing a sharp transition between the two for the cubic point group $O$.
We report a comprehensive study of the centrosymmetric Re$_3$B and noncentrosymmetric Re$_7$B$_3$ superconductors. At a macroscopic level, their bulk superconductivity (SC), with $T_c$ = 5.1 K (Re$_3$B) and 3.3 K (Re$_7$B$_3$), was characterized via electrical-resistivity, magnetization, and heat-capacity measurements, while their microscopic superconducting properties were investigated by means of muon-spin rotation/relaxation ($mu$SR). In both Re$_3$B and Re$_7$B$_3$ the low-$T$ zero-field electronic specific heat and the superfluid density (determined via tranverse-field $mu$SR) suggest a nodeless SC. Both compounds exhibit some features of multigap SC, as evidenced by temperature-dependent upper critical fields $H_mathrm{c2}(T)$, as well as by electronic band-structure calculations. The absence of spontaneous magnetic fields below the onset of SC, as determined from zero-field $mu$SR measurements, indicates a preserved time-reversal symmetry in the superconducting state of both Re$_3$B and Re$_7$B$_3$. Our results suggest that a lack of inversion symmetry and the accompanying antisymmetric spin-orbit coupling effects are not essential for the occurrence of multigap SC in these rhenium-boron compounds.
We discuss the unconventional magnetic response and vortex states arising in noncentrosymmetric superconductors with chiral octahedral and tetrahedral ($O$ or $T$) symmetry. We microscopically derive Ginzburg-Landau free energy. It is shown that due to spin-orbit and Zeeman coupling magnetic response of the system can change very significantly with temperature. For sufficiently strong coupling this leads to a crossover from type-1 superconductivity at elevated temperature to vortex states at lower temperature. The external magnetic field decay in such superconductors does not have the simple exponential law. We show that in the London limit, magnetic field can be solved in terms of complex force-free fields $vec{W}$, which are defined by $ abla times vec{W} = text{const} vec{W}$. Using that we demonstrate that the magnetic field of a vortex decays in spirals. Because of such behavior of the magnetic field, the intervortex and vortex-boundary interaction becomes non-monotonic with multiple minima. This implies that vortices form bound states with other vortices, antivortices, and boundaries.
Superconductivity research is like running a marathon. Three decades after the discovery of high-Tc cuprates, there have been mass data generated from transport measurements, which bring fruitful information. In this review, we give a brief summary of the intriguing phenomena reported in electron-doped cuprates from the aspect of electrical transport as well as the complementary thermal transport. We attempt to sort out common features of the electron-doped family, e.g. the strange metal, negative magnetoresistance, multiple sign reversals of Hall in mixed state, abnormal Nernst signal, complex quantum criticality. Most of them have been challenging the existing theories, nevertheless, a unified diagram certainly helps to approach the nature of electron-doped cuprates.