SearcharxivSearch

arXiv subjects

A. J. Berlinsky

Publications and source records attributed to A. J. Berlinsky.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Is Sr2RuO4 a Chiral P-Wave Superconductor?

Much excitement surrounds the possibility that strontium ruthenate exhibits chiral p-wave superconducting order. Such order would be a solid state analogue of the A phase of He-3, with the potential for exotic physics relevant to quantum computing. We take a critical look at the evidence for such time-reversal symmetry breaking order. The possible superconducting order parameter symmetries and the evidence for and against chiral p-wave order are reviewed, with an emphasis on the most recent theoretical predictions and experimental observations. In particular, attempts to reconcile experimental observations and theoretical predictions for the spontaneous supercurrents expected at sample edges and domain walls of a chiral p-wave superconductor and for the polar Kerr effect, a key signature of broken time-reversal symmetry, are discussed.

cond-mat.supr-con

Superfluid density near the critical temperature in the presence of random planar defects

The superfluid density near the superconducting transition is investigated in the presence of spatial inhomogeneity in the critical temperature. Disorder is accounted for by means of a random $T_c$ term in the conventional Ginzburg-Landau action for the superconducting order parameter. Focusing on the case where a low-density of randomly distributed planar defects are responsible for the variation of $T_c$, we derive the lowest order correction to the superfluid density in powers of the defect concentration. The correction is calculated assuming a broad Gaussian distribution for the strengths of the defect potentials. Our results are in a qualitative agreement with the superfluid density measurements in the underdoped regime of high-quality YBCO crystals by Broun and co-workers.

cond-mat.supr-con

Spin Waves in the Ferromagnetic Ground State of the Kagome Staircase System Co3V2O8

Inelastic neutron scattering measurements were performed on single crystal Co3V2O8 wherein magnetic cobalt ions reside on distinct spine and cross-tie sites within kagome staircase planes. This system displays a rich magnetic phase diagram which culminates in a ferromagnetic ground state below Tc~6 K. We have studied the low-lying magnetic excitations in this phase within the kagome plane. Despite the complexity of the system at higher temperatures, linear spin-wave theory describes most of the quantitative detail of the inelastic neutron measurements. Our results show two spin-wave branches, the higher energy of which displays finite spin-wave lifetimes well below Tc, and negligible magnetic exchange coupling between Co moments on the spine sites.

cond-mat.dis-nn

Ordering and Spin Waves in NaNiO2 : A Stacked Quantum Ferromagnet

Neutron scattering measurements on powder NaNiO2 reveal magnetic Bragg peaks and spin waves characteristic of strongly correlated s=1/2 magnetic moments arranged in ferromagnetic layers which are stacked antiferromagnetically. This structure lends itself to stacking sequence frustration in the presence of mixing between nickel and alkali metal sites, possibly providing a natural explanation for the enigmatic spin glass state of the isostructural compound, LiNiO2.

cond-mat.str-el

High Resolution Study of Spin Excitations in the Shastry-Sutherland Singlet Ground State of SrCu2(BO3)2

High resolution, inelastic neutron scattering measurements on SrCu2(BO3)2 reveal the dispersion of the three single triplet excitations continuously across the (H,0) direction within its tetragonal basal plane. These measurements also show distinct Q dependencies for the single and multiple triplet excitations, and that these excitations are largely dispersionless perpendicular to this plane. The temperature dependence of the intensities of these excitations is well described as the complement of the dc-susceptibility of SrCu2(BO3)2.

cond-mat.str-el

Dirac quasiparticles in the mixed state

Energies and wave functions are calculated for d-wave quasiparticles in the mixed state using the formalism of Franz and Tesanovic for the low-lying energy levels. The accuracy of the plane-wave expansion is explored by comparing approximate to exact results for a simplified one-dimensional problem, and the convergence of the plane- wave expansion to the two-dimensional case is studied. The results are used to calculate the low-energy tunneling density of states and the low-temperature specific heat, and these theoretical results are compared to semiclassical treatments and to the available data. Implications for the muon spin resonance measurements of vortex core size are also discussed.

cond-mat.supr-con

Minimizers of the Lawrence-Doniach energy in the small-coupling limit: finite width samples in a parallel field

In this paper we study the Lawrence-Doniach model for layered superconductors, for a sample with finite width subjected to a magnetic field parallel to the superconducting layers. We provide a rigorous analysis of the energy minimizers in the limit as the coupling between adjacent superconducting layers tends to zero. We identify a unique global minimizer of the Gibbs free energy in this regime ("vortex planes"), and reveal a sequence of first-order phase transitions by which Josephson vortices are nucleated via the boundary. The small coupling limit is studied via degenerate perturbation theory based on a Lyapunov-Schmidt decomposition which reduces the Lawrence-Doniach system to a finite-dimensional variational problem. Finally, a lower bound on the radius of validity of the perturbation expansion (in terms of various parameters appearing in the model) is obtained.

math.AP

Periodic vortex lattices for the Lawrence-Doniach model of layered superconductors in a parallel field

We consider the Lawrence-Doniach model for layered superconductors, in which stacks of parallel superconducting planes are coupled via the Josephson effect. We assume that the superconductor is placed in an external magnetic field oriented parallel to the superconducting planes and study periodic lattice configurations in the limit as the Josephson coupling parameter r tends to zero. This limit leads to the "transparent state" discussed in the physics literature, which is observed in very anisotropic high-temperature superconductors at sufficiently high applied fields and below a critical temperature. We use a Lyapunov-Schmidt reduction to prove that energy minimization uniquely determines the geometry of the optimal vortex lattice: a period-2 (in the layers) array proposed by Bulaevskii & Clem. Finally, we discuss the apparent conflict with previous results for finite-width samples, in which the minimizer in the small coupling regime takes the form of "vortex planes" (introduced by Theodorakis and Kuplevakhsky.)

math.AP

Microwave Conductivity due to Impurity Scattering in a d-wave Superconductor

The self-consistent t-matrix approximation for impurity scattering in unconventional superconductors is used to interpret recent measurements of the temperature and frequency dependence of the microwave conductivity of YBCO crystals below 20K. In this theory, the conductivity is expressed in terms of a fequency dependent single particle self-energy, determined by the impurity scattering phase shift which is small for weak (Born) scattering and approaches $π/ 2$ for unitary scattering. Inverting this process, microwave conductivity data are used to extract an effective single-particle self-energy and obtain insight into the nature of the operative scattering processes. It is found that the effective self-energy is well approximated by a constant plus a linear term in frequency with a small positive slope for thermal quasiparticle energies below 20K. Possible physical origins of this form of self-energy are discussed.

cond-mat.supr-con

Spin-lattice relaxation in the mixed state of YBaCuO: Can we see Doppler-shifted d-wave quasiparticles?

We present calculations of the rate of planar Cu spin lattice relaxation in the mixed state of YBaCuO due to (i) vortex vibrations and (ii) electron spin-flip scattering. We emphasize that both mechanisms give position dependent rates due to the presence of vortices, and hence the magnetization recovery is characterized by a distribution of rates. We conclude that relaxation by vortex vibrations is too slow to be a significant factor in this material. Using a semiclassical model of Doppler shifted d-wave quasiparticles with a linear dispersion around the nodes, our calculation of the relaxation rate from electron spin-flip scattering shows partial agreement with experiment.

cond-mat.supr-con

Magnetic susceptibility of diluted pyrochlore and SCGO antiferromagnets

We investigate the magnetic susceptibility of the classical Heisenberg antiferromagnet with nearest-neighbour interactions on the geometrically frustrated pyrochlore lattice, for a pure system and in the presence of dilution with nonmagnetic ions. Using the fact that the correlation length in this system for small dilution is always short, we obtain an approximate but accurate expression for the magnetic susceptibility at all temperatures. We extend this theory to the compound SrCr_{9-9x}Ga_{3+9x}O_{19} (SCGO) and provide an explanation of the phenomenological model recently proposed by Schiffer and Daruka [Phys. Rev. B56, 13712 (1997)].

cond-mat.stat-mech

Vortices with antiferromagnetic cores in the SO(5) theory of high temperature superconductivity

We consider the problem of superconducting Ginzburg-Landau (G-L) vortices with antiferromagnetic cores which arise in Zhang's SO(5) model of antiferromagnetism (AF) and high temperature superconductivity (SC). This problem was previously considered by Arovas et al. who constructed approximate "variational" solutions, in the large kappa limit, to estimate the domain of stability of such vortices in the temperature-chemical potential phase diagram. By solving the G-L equations numerically for general kappa, we show that the amplitude of the antiferromagnetic component at the vortex core decreases to zero continuously at a critical value of the AF-SC anisotropy (g~0.25) which is essentially independent of kappa for large kappa. The magnetic field profile, the vortex line energy and the value of the B-field at the center of the vortex core, as functions of anisotropy are also presented.

cond-mat.supr-con

Stripe Formation within SO(5) Theory

We study the formation of stripe order within the SO(5) theory of high T_c superconductivity. We show that spin and charge modulations arise as a result of the competition between a local tendency to phase separate and the long-range Coulomb interaction. This frustrated phase separation leads to hole-rich and hole-poor regions which are respectively superconducting and antiferromagnetic. A rich variety of microstructures ranging from droplet and striped to inverted-droplet phases are stabilized, depending on the charge carrier concentration. We show that the SO(5) energy functional favors non-topological stripes.

cond-mat.supr-con

Properties of SAS Josephson junctions in SO(5) theory

We derive the qualitative behavior of superconductor-antiferromagnet- superconductor (SAS) Josephson junctions described by Zhang's SO(5) theory. The main differences between these junctions and conventional SIS junctions arise from the non-sinusoidal current-phase relation derived by Demler et al. for thin SAS junctions. Using a simple approximation to this non-sinusoidal function, the current voltage relation, Shapiro steps, thermal fluctuation effects and the diffraction pattern in a magnetic field are obtained.

cond-mat.supr-con

Critical temperature and superfluid density suppression in disordered high-$T_c$ cuprate superconductors

We argue that the standard Abrikosov-Gorkov (AG) type theory of $T_c$ in disordered $d$-wave superconductors breaks down in short coherence length high-$T_c$ cuprates. Numerical calculations within the Bogoliubov-de Gennes formalism demonstrate that the correct description of such systems must allow for the spatial variation of the order parameter, which is strongly suppressed in the vicinity of impurities but mostly unaffected elsewhere. Suppression of $T_c$ as measured with respect to the attendant decrease in the superfluid density is found to be significantly weaker than that predicted by the AG theory, in good agreement with experiment.

cond-mat.supr-con

Proximity Effect and Josephson Coupling in the SO(5) Theory of High-Tc Superconductivity

We consider proximity effect coupling in Superconducting/Antiferromagnetic/Superconducting (S-A-S) sandwiches using the recently developed SO(5) effective theory of high temperature superconductivity. We find that, for narrow junctions, the A region acts like a strong superconductor, and that there is a critical junction thickness which depends on the effective SO(5) coupling constants and on the phase difference across the junction, at which the A region undergoes a Freedericksz-like transition to a state which is intermediate between superconductor and antiferromagnet. For thick junctions, the current-phase relation is sinusoidal, as in standard S-N-S and S-I-S junctions, but for thin junctions it shows a sharp break in slope at the Freedericksz point.

cond-mat.supr-con

Superconducting Vortex with Antiferromagnetic Core

We show that a superconducting vortex in underdoped high T_c superconductors could have an antiferromagnetic core. This type of vortex configuration arises as a topological solution in the recently constructed SO(5) nonlinear sigma model and in Ginzburg-Landau theory with competing antiferromagnetic and superconducting order parameters. Experimental detection of this type of vortex by μSR and neutron scattering is proposed.

cond-mat.supr-con

Twin boundaries in d-wave superconductors

Twin boundaries in orthorhombic d-wave superconductors are investigated numerically using the Bogoliubov-deGennes formalism within the context of an extended Hubbard model. The twin boundaries are represented by tetragonal regions of variable width, with a reduced chemical potential. For sufficiently large twin boundary width and change in chemical potential, an induced s-wave component may break time-reversal symmetry at a low temperature. This temperature, and the magnitude of the complex component, are found to depend strongly on electron density. The results are compared with recent tunneling measurements.

cond-mat.supr-con