Polar Kerr Effect in Multiband Spin-Orbit Coupled Superconductors

Abstract

We undertake a theoretical analysis to probe the Kerr spectrum within the superconducting phase of strontium ruthenate, where the Kerr rotation experiments demonstrate the existence of a superconducting state with broken time reversal symmetry. We find that spin-orbit coupling changes the hybridization along the Fermi surface's diagonal zone mainly affects Hall transport. We show that the dominant Hall response arises mainly from the quasi-1D orbitals $d_{yz}$ and $d_{xz}$, linked to their hybridization, while other contributions are negligible. This establishes that, the breaking of time reversal symmetry of quasi-1D orbitals can account for the existence of the Kerr angle, irrespective of the order symmetry specific to the $d_{xy}$ orbital. Moreover, the optical Hall conductivity and Kerr angle estimated for the hypothesised superconducting orders also closely match the experimental findings, providing important novel insight on the role of the spin-orbit coupling, hybridization, and emergent order.