Three-particle mechanism for unconventional superconductivity with potential applications in moiré materials

A novel electronic mechanism for superconductivity is introduced, wherein pairing between two conduction electrons is mediated by the virtual motion of a third one originating from the valence band. Relying on interband polarization rather than singularities near the Fermi level, this mechanism bypa...

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Main Author: Crépel, Valentin (Valentin Didier Marie Claude)
Other Authors: Fu, Liang
Format: Thesis
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2023
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/150913
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author Crépel, Valentin (Valentin Didier Marie Claude)
author2 Fu, Liang
author_facet Fu, Liang
Crépel, Valentin (Valentin Didier Marie Claude)
author_sort Crépel, Valentin (Valentin Didier Marie Claude)
collection MIT
description A novel electronic mechanism for superconductivity is introduced, wherein pairing between two conduction electrons is mediated by the virtual motion of a third one originating from the valence band. Relying on interband polarization rather than singularities near the Fermi level, this mechanism bypasses the limitations that other electronic models for superconductivity encounter at low charge carrier concentrations. As a result, it is able to capture the full crossover from Bardeen-Cooper- Schrieffer behaviors to the Bose-Einstein condensation of pairs, which has recently attracted a lot of experimental attention. Furthermore, the pairing potential obtained is non-retarded and non-perturbative in the Coulomb interaction strength, leading to strong coupling behaviors and, in particular, to large critical temperature to Fermi energy ratios. Finally, we argue that this mechanism should apply to some moiré materials, but also to ZrNCl and WTe₂, for which it predicts an experimentally observable spin-triplet order parameter. Faithfully describing two of the most important class of unconventional superconductors – dilute superconductors with large [formula] ratios and spin-triplet superconductors – the so-coined “three-particle” mechanism for superconductivity studied throughout this thesis appears pivotal to future research on high-𝑇꜀ and topological superconductors.
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spelling mit-1721.1/1509132024-02-14T16:30:53Z Three-particle mechanism for unconventional superconductivity with potential applications in moiré materials Crépel, Valentin (Valentin Didier Marie Claude) Fu, Liang Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics A novel electronic mechanism for superconductivity is introduced, wherein pairing between two conduction electrons is mediated by the virtual motion of a third one originating from the valence band. Relying on interband polarization rather than singularities near the Fermi level, this mechanism bypasses the limitations that other electronic models for superconductivity encounter at low charge carrier concentrations. As a result, it is able to capture the full crossover from Bardeen-Cooper- Schrieffer behaviors to the Bose-Einstein condensation of pairs, which has recently attracted a lot of experimental attention. Furthermore, the pairing potential obtained is non-retarded and non-perturbative in the Coulomb interaction strength, leading to strong coupling behaviors and, in particular, to large critical temperature to Fermi energy ratios. Finally, we argue that this mechanism should apply to some moiré materials, but also to ZrNCl and WTe₂, for which it predicts an experimentally observable spin-triplet order parameter. Faithfully describing two of the most important class of unconventional superconductors – dilute superconductors with large [formula] ratios and spin-triplet superconductors – the so-coined “three-particle” mechanism for superconductivity studied throughout this thesis appears pivotal to future research on high-𝑇꜀ and topological superconductors. Ph.D. 2023-06-16T15:19:46Z 2023-06-16T15:19:46Z 2022-09 2023-05-16T17:05:59.102Z Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/150913 In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted Copyright MIT http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/ application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Crépel, Valentin (Valentin Didier Marie Claude)
Three-particle mechanism for unconventional superconductivity with potential applications in moiré materials
title Three-particle mechanism for unconventional superconductivity with potential applications in moiré materials
title_full Three-particle mechanism for unconventional superconductivity with potential applications in moiré materials
title_fullStr Three-particle mechanism for unconventional superconductivity with potential applications in moiré materials
title_full_unstemmed Three-particle mechanism for unconventional superconductivity with potential applications in moiré materials
title_short Three-particle mechanism for unconventional superconductivity with potential applications in moiré materials
title_sort three particle mechanism for unconventional superconductivity with potential applications in moire materials
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/150913
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