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arXiv · 1802.06365

Orbitally limited pair-density wave phase of multilayer superconductors

David Möckli·Youichi Yanase·Manfred Sigrist
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Abstract

We investigate the magnetic field dependence of an ideal superconducting vortex lattice in the parity-mixed pair-density wave phase of multilayer superconductors within a circular cell Ginzburg-Landau approach. In multilayer systems, due to local inversion symmetry breaking, a Rashba spin-orbit coupling is induced at the outer layers. This combined with a perpendicular paramagnetic (Pauli) limiting magnetic field stabilizes a staggered layer dependent pair-density wave phase in the superconducting singlet channel. The high-field pair-density wave phase is separated from the low-field BCS phase by a first-order phase transition. The motivating guiding question in this paper is: what is the minimal necessary Maki parameter $α_M$ for the appearance of the pair-density wave phase of a superconducting trilayer system? To address this problem we generalize the circular cell method for the regular flux-line lattice of a type-II superconductor to include paramagnetic depairing effects. Then, we apply the model to the trilayer system, where each of the layers are characterized by Ginzburg-Landau parameter $κ_0$, and a Maki parameter $α_M$. We find that when the spin-orbit Rashba interaction compares to the superconducting condensation energy, the orbitally limited pair-density wave phase stabilizes for Maki parameters $α_M> 10$.

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David Möckli, Youichi Yanase, Manfred Sigrist. 2018-02-18. Orbitally limited pair-density wave phase of multilayer superconductors. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.97.144508

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