Pauli limited d-wave superconductors: Quantum breached pair phase and thermal transitions

Abstract

We report a quantum phase transition in Pauli limited $d$-wave superconductors and give the mean field estimates of the associated quantum critical point. For a population imbalanced $d$-wave superconductor a stable ground state phase viz. quantum breached pair phase has been identified which comprises of spatial coexistence of gapless superconductivity and nonzero magnetization. Based on the thermodynamic and quasiparticle indicators we for the first time analyze this phase, discuss the thermal behavior of Pauli limited $d$-wave superconductor, give accurate estimates of the thermal scales associated with such systems and map out the pseudogap regime. Our work shows that while the Pauli limited superconductors are known to exhibit exotic modulated superconducting phase at large imbalance of fermion populations; in the regime of weak imbalance an intriguing phase of competing orders is realized. We have established that rather than the superconducting pairing field, it is the average magnetization of the system that quantifies this quantum phase transition. Given that the existing Pauli limited superconductors possess unconventional pairing state symmetry of the superconducting order, our work promises to open up new avenues in the experimental research of these materials. We have also demonstrated an alternate scenario wherein the quantum breached pair phase is a natural outcome for a $d$-wave superconductor with unequal effective masses of the fermion species.