Helical spin texture of surface states in topological superconductors
Surface states of topological noncentrosymmetric superconductors (NCSs) exhibit intricate helical spin textures, i.e., the spin orientation of the surface quasiparticles is coupled to their momentum. Using quasiclassical theory, we study the spin polarization of the surface states as a function of t...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2015-01-01
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| Series: | New Journal of Physics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/17/1/013016 |
| _version_ | 1797751277540605952 |
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| author | P M R Brydon Andreas P Schnyder Carsten Timm |
| author_facet | P M R Brydon Andreas P Schnyder Carsten Timm |
| author_sort | P M R Brydon |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Surface states of topological noncentrosymmetric superconductors (NCSs) exhibit intricate helical spin textures, i.e., the spin orientation of the surface quasiparticles is coupled to their momentum. Using quasiclassical theory, we study the spin polarization of the surface states as a function of the spin–orbit interaction and superconducting pairing symmetry. We focus on two- and three-dimensional fully gapped and nodal NCSs. For the case of nodal systems, we show that the spin polarization of the topological flat bands is controlled by the spin polarization of the bulk normal states at the bounding gap nodes. We demonstrate that the zero-bias conductance in a magnetic tunnel junction can be used as an experimental test of the surface-state spin polarization. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:46:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fa5616db3d514c33bf6f7a116bb986a2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1367-2630 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:46:07Z |
| publishDate | 2015-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | New Journal of Physics |
| spelling | doaj.art-fa5616db3d514c33bf6f7a116bb986a22023-08-08T14:15:42ZengIOP PublishingNew Journal of Physics1367-26302015-01-0117101301610.1088/1367-2630/17/1/013016Helical spin texture of surface states in topological superconductorsP M R Brydon0Andreas P Schnyder1Carsten Timm2Condensed Matter Theory Center, Department of Physics, The University of Maryland , College Park, MD 20742-4111, USAMax-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung , Heisenbergstrasse 1, D-70569 Stuttgart, GermanyInstitute of Theoretical Physics, Technische Universität Dresden , D-01062 Dresden, GermanySurface states of topological noncentrosymmetric superconductors (NCSs) exhibit intricate helical spin textures, i.e., the spin orientation of the surface quasiparticles is coupled to their momentum. Using quasiclassical theory, we study the spin polarization of the surface states as a function of the spin–orbit interaction and superconducting pairing symmetry. We focus on two- and three-dimensional fully gapped and nodal NCSs. For the case of nodal systems, we show that the spin polarization of the topological flat bands is controlled by the spin polarization of the bulk normal states at the bounding gap nodes. We demonstrate that the zero-bias conductance in a magnetic tunnel junction can be used as an experimental test of the surface-state spin polarization.https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/17/1/013016topological superconductorssurface statesunconventional superconductivity74.50.+r74.20.Rp74.25.F- |
| spellingShingle | P M R Brydon Andreas P Schnyder Carsten Timm Helical spin texture of surface states in topological superconductors New Journal of Physics topological superconductors surface states unconventional superconductivity 74.50.+r 74.20.Rp 74.25.F- |
| title | Helical spin texture of surface states in topological superconductors |
| title_full | Helical spin texture of surface states in topological superconductors |
| title_fullStr | Helical spin texture of surface states in topological superconductors |
| title_full_unstemmed | Helical spin texture of surface states in topological superconductors |
| title_short | Helical spin texture of surface states in topological superconductors |
| title_sort | helical spin texture of surface states in topological superconductors |
| topic | topological superconductors surface states unconventional superconductivity 74.50.+r 74.20.Rp 74.25.F- |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/17/1/013016 |
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