Pairing States of Spin--3/2 Fermions: Symmetry-Enforced Topological Gap Functions
We study the topological properties of superconductors with paired j=3/2 quasiparticles. Higher spin Fermi surfaces can arise, for instance, in strongly spin-orbit coupled band-inverted semimetals. Examples include the Bi-based half-Heusler materials, which have recently been established as low-te...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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American Physical Society
2018
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/116726 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0543-6298 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3706-8503 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7809-8157 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8803-1017 |
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| author | Venderbos, Joern Willem Friedrich Savary, Lucile Ruhman, Yehonatan Lee, Patrick A Fu, Liang |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Venderbos, Joern Willem Friedrich Savary, Lucile Ruhman, Yehonatan Lee, Patrick A Fu, Liang |
| author_sort | Venderbos, Joern Willem Friedrich |
| collection | MIT |
| description | We study the topological properties of superconductors with paired
j=3/2 quasiparticles. Higher spin Fermi surfaces can arise, for instance, in strongly spin-orbit coupled band-inverted semimetals. Examples include the Bi-based half-Heusler materials, which have recently been established as low-temperature and low-carrier density superconductors. Motivated by this experimental observation, we obtain a comprehensive symmetry-based classification of topological pairing states in systems with higher angular momentum Cooper pairing. Our study consists of two main parts. First, we develop the phenomenological theory of multicomponent (i.e., higher angular momentum) pairing by classifying the stationary points of the free energy within a Ginzburg-Landau framework. Based on the symmetry classification of stationary pairing states, we then derive the symmetry-imposed constraints on their gap structures. We find that, depending on the symmetry quantum numbers of the Cooper pairs, different types of topological pairing states can occur: fully gapped topological superconductors in class DIII, Dirac superconductors, and superconductors hosting Majorana fermions. Notably, we find a series of nematic fully gapped topological superconductors, as well as double- and triple-Dirac superconductors, with quadratic and cubic dispersion, respectively. Our approach, applied here to the case of j=3/2 Cooper pairing, is rooted in the symmetry properties of pairing states, and can therefore also be applied to other systems with higher angular momentum and high-spin pairing. We conclude by relating our results to experimentally accessible signatures in thermodynamic and dynamic probes. Subject Areas: Condensed Matter Physics, Superconductivity, Topological Insulators |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:21:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/116726 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:21:25Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | American Physical Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1167262022-10-01T20:49:01Z Pairing States of Spin--3/2 Fermions: Symmetry-Enforced Topological Gap Functions Venderbos, Joern Willem Friedrich Savary, Lucile Ruhman, Yehonatan Lee, Patrick A Fu, Liang Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Venderbos, Joern Willem Friedrich Savary, Lucile Ruhman, Yehonatan Lee, Patrick A Fu, Liang We study the topological properties of superconductors with paired j=3/2 quasiparticles. Higher spin Fermi surfaces can arise, for instance, in strongly spin-orbit coupled band-inverted semimetals. Examples include the Bi-based half-Heusler materials, which have recently been established as low-temperature and low-carrier density superconductors. Motivated by this experimental observation, we obtain a comprehensive symmetry-based classification of topological pairing states in systems with higher angular momentum Cooper pairing. Our study consists of two main parts. First, we develop the phenomenological theory of multicomponent (i.e., higher angular momentum) pairing by classifying the stationary points of the free energy within a Ginzburg-Landau framework. Based on the symmetry classification of stationary pairing states, we then derive the symmetry-imposed constraints on their gap structures. We find that, depending on the symmetry quantum numbers of the Cooper pairs, different types of topological pairing states can occur: fully gapped topological superconductors in class DIII, Dirac superconductors, and superconductors hosting Majorana fermions. Notably, we find a series of nematic fully gapped topological superconductors, as well as double- and triple-Dirac superconductors, with quadratic and cubic dispersion, respectively. Our approach, applied here to the case of j=3/2 Cooper pairing, is rooted in the symmetry properties of pairing states, and can therefore also be applied to other systems with higher angular momentum and high-spin pairing. We conclude by relating our results to experimentally accessible signatures in thermodynamic and dynamic probes. Subject Areas: Condensed Matter Physics, Superconductivity, Topological Insulators 2018-07-02T18:25:16Z 2018-07-02T18:25:16Z 2018-02 2017-12 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2160-3308 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/116726 Venderbos, Jörn W. F., et al. “Pairing States of Spin- 3/2 Fermions: Symmetry-Enforced Topological Gap Functions.” Physical Review X, vol. 8, no. 1, Feb. 2018. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0543-6298 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3706-8503 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7809-8157 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8803-1017 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.8.011029 Physical Review X Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf American Physical Society APS |
| spellingShingle | Venderbos, Joern Willem Friedrich Savary, Lucile Ruhman, Yehonatan Lee, Patrick A Fu, Liang Pairing States of Spin--3/2 Fermions: Symmetry-Enforced Topological Gap Functions |
| title | Pairing States of Spin--3/2 Fermions: Symmetry-Enforced Topological Gap Functions |
| title_full | Pairing States of Spin--3/2 Fermions: Symmetry-Enforced Topological Gap Functions |
| title_fullStr | Pairing States of Spin--3/2 Fermions: Symmetry-Enforced Topological Gap Functions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Pairing States of Spin--3/2 Fermions: Symmetry-Enforced Topological Gap Functions |
| title_short | Pairing States of Spin--3/2 Fermions: Symmetry-Enforced Topological Gap Functions |
| title_sort | pairing states of spin 3 2 fermions symmetry enforced topological gap functions |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/116726 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0543-6298 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3706-8503 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7809-8157 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8803-1017 |
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