arXiv subjects

Asle Sudbø

Publications and source records attributed to Asle Sudbø.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2024

Strong-coupling approach to temperature dependence of competing orders of superconductivity: Possible time-reversal symmetry breaking and nontrivial topology

We use strong-coupling Eliashberg theory to study the competition of separate superconducting orders at low temperatures. Specifically, we study magnon-mediated superconductivity in a trilayer heterostructure with a thin normal metal between two antiferromagnetic insulators. Spin-triplet $p$-wave, spin-triplet $f$-wave, and spin-singlet $d$-wave superconducting gaps have been predicted to occur close to the critical temperature for the superconducting instability. The gap symmetry with the largest critical temperature depends on parameters in the model. We confirm that the same gap symmetries appear at any temperature below the critical temperature. Furthermore, we show that the temperature can affect the competition between the different superconducting orders. In addition, we consider time-reversal-symmetry-breaking, complex linear combinations of candidate pairings, such as chiral $p$-, $f$-, and $d$-wave gaps, as well as $p_x+if_y$-wave gaps. We find indications that some of these time-reversal-symmetry-breaking, nodeless gaps offer a greater condensation energy than the time-reversal symmetric gaps. This indicates that superconducting states with spontaneously broken time-reversal symmetry and nontrivial topology may be preferred in this system.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2024

Topological superconductivity induced by a Kitaev spin liquid

We study the effective low-energy fermionic theory of the Kondo-Kitaev model to leading order in the Kondo coupling. Our main goal is to understand the nature of the superconducting instability induced in the proximate metal due to its coupling to spin fluctuations of the spin liquid. The special combination of the low-energy modes of a graphene-like metal and the form of the interaction induced by the Majorana excitations of the spin liquid furnish chiral superconducting order with $p_x + \mathrm{i} p_y$ symmetry. Computing its response to a $\mathrm{U}(1)$ gauge field moreover shows that this superconducting state is topologically non-trivial, characterized by a first Chern number of $\pm 2$.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2024

Many-body effects on superconductivity mediated by double-magnon processes in altermagnets

Altermagnets exhibit a large electron spin splitting which can be understood as a result of strong coupling between itinerant electrons and localized spins. We consider superconductivity due to electron-magnon scattering, using strong-coupling Eliashberg theory to capture many-body effects that are not covered by a weak-coupling approach. The characteristic band structure of altermagnets puts significant constraints on the spin structure of electron scattering on the Fermi surface. We emphasize the role of spin-preserving, double-magnon scattering processes compared to conventional spin-flip processes involving a single magnon. Then, we derive the Eliashberg equations for a situation where double-magnon scattering mediates spin-polarized Cooper pairs, while both double-magnon and single-magnon scatterings contribute to many-body effects. These many-body effects impact superconducting properties in a way that differs significantly from systems where conventional spin-flip processes mediate superconductivity. To highlight the role of $d$-wave magnetism on superconductivity in altermagnets, we compare our results to those found in ferromagnetic half-metals and conventional antiferromagnetic metals.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

Two-dimensional altermagnets: Superconductivity in a minimal microscopic model

We propose a minimal toy model for a two-dimensional altermagnet. The model unravels altermagnetic properties at a microscopic level. We find spin-split electron- and non-degenerate magnon bands with a $d$-wave symmetry. We use the model to explore magnon-mediated superconductivity in altermagnets. The dominant superconducting state is spin-polarized with a $p$-wave symmetry. The state adopts its characteristics from the spin-split electron bands. Furthermore, we find that the superconducting critical temperature of altermagnets can be significantly enhanced by tuning the chemical potential.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

Topological superconductivity mediated by magnons of helical magnetic states

We recently showed that spin fluctuations of noncoplanar magnetic states can induce topological superconductivity in an adjacent normal metal [Mæland et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 156002 (2023)]. The noncolinear nature of the spins was found to be essential for this result, while the necessity of noncoplanar spins was unclear. In this paper we show that magnons in coplanar, noncolinear magnetic states can mediate topological superconductivity in a normal metal. Two models of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction are studied to illustrate the need for a sufficiently complicated Hamiltonian describing the magnetic insulator. The Hamiltonian, in particular the specific form of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, affects the magnons and by extension the effective electron-electron interaction in the normal metal. Symmetry arguments are applied to complement this discussion. We solve a linearized gap equation in the case of weak-coupling superconductivity. The result is a time-reversal-symmetric topological superconductor, as confirmed by calculating the topological invariant. In analogy with magnon-mediated superconductivity from antiferromagnets, Umklapp scattering enhances the critical temperature of superconductivity for certain Fermi momenta.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

Multiband strong-coupling superconductors with spontaneously broken time-reversal symmetry

We study superconducting three-band systems within strong-coupling Eliashberg theory. In particular, we search for phase-frustrated superconducting systems with spontaneous time-reversal symmetry breaking (TRSB) states. The emergence of TRSB states in multiband systems has so far been studied using microscopic weak-coupling BCS theory or more phenomenological effective field theories such as multi-component Ginzburg-Landau theories. For systems with three disjoint Fermi surfaces whose electrons experience interactions mediated by phonons, we present a microscopic analysis showing that TRSB states also exist within a strong-coupling microscopic theory. The systems we consider have sizable electron-phonon couplings, putting them into the strong-coupling regime. They are thus a fitting description for strong-coupling materials such as some of the iron pnictides. Moreover, as the TRSB states are challenging to find numerically, we calculate the free energy of multiband systems within strong-coupling theory and make explicit use of it to pin down the TRSB states' elusive nature. Since Eliashberg theory is well incorporated with first-principles calculations, our strong-coupling approach might help facilitate a more efficient search for candidate materials that can exhibit TRSB.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

Exceeding the Chandrasekhar-Clogston limit in flat-band superconductors: A multiband strong-coupling approach

Hybrid systems of superconductors and magnets display several intriguing properties, both from a fundamental physics point of view and with practical applications. Promising applications in superconducting spintronics motivate a search for systems where superconductivity can survive larger in-plane critical magnetic fields than the conventional limit. The Chandrasekhar-Clogston (CC) limit applies to thin-film conventional superconductors with in-plane magnetic fields such that orbital effects may be ignored. For a magnetic field strength comparable to the superconducting gap at zero temperature and zero field, a spin-split normal state attains lower free energy than the superconducting state. A multiband superconductor with a flat band placed just below the Fermi surface has been shown to surpass the CC limit using weak-coupling theory. Since the dimensionless coupling determining the critical temperature scales with the density of states, it is natural to anticipate corrections from strong-coupling theory in flat-band systems, owing to the large density of states of the flat bands. We derive Eliashberg equations and the free energy for a multiband superconductor in a magnetic field. First, we show that the CC limit can be exceeded by a small amount in one-band strong-coupling superconductors due to self-energy renormalization of the magnetic field. Next, we consider a two-band system with one flat band and find that the CC limit can be exceeded by a large amount also in strong-coupling theory, even when including hybridization between bands that intersect.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

Stability of superconducting gap symmetries arising from antiferromagnetic magnons

We consider a planar heterostructure consisting of a normal metal in proximity to an antiferromagnetic insulator, with an interlayer exchange coupling between the metal and the insulator. The coupling to the two sublattices of the antiferromagnetic insulator is allowed to be asymmetric. An effective electron-electron interaction in the normal metal, mediated by antiferromagnetic magnons in the insulator, is derived to second order in the interlayer exchange coupling. Particular emphasis is placed on including analytically derived expressions for the effective interactions including Umklapp processes in the solutions to the superconducting gap equation. The gap equation is first solved at the critical temperature as an eigenvalue problem by linearizing the gap equation. The eigenvectors yield information on the symmetry of the superconducting gap at the onset of superconductivity, and we derive a phase diagram for the order parameter in this case. In the various regimes of the phase diagram, we find $p$-wave, $f$-wave, and $d$-wave superconductivity, with $p$-wave superconductivity in the dominant part of the phase diagram. Umklapp processes, that come into play with increasing size of the Fermi surface, yield $f$- and $d$-wave symmetries as the preferred symmetries when band filling approaches half filling. To investigate the stability of this order parameter symmetry as the temperature is lowered, we also consider the nonlinear gap equation at zero temperature. We conclude that the phase diagram and the symmetries of the superconducting order parameter essentially are left intact as the temperature is lowered to zero temperature.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

Constrained weak-coupling superconductivity in multiband superconductors

We consider superconductivity in a system with $N$ Fermi surfaces, including intraband and interband effective electron-electron interactions. The effective interaction is described by an $N \times N$ matrix whose elements are assumed to be constant in thin momentum shells around each Fermi surface, giving rise to $s$-wave superconductivity. Starting with attractive intraband interactions in all $N$ bands, we show that too strong interband interactions are detrimental to sustaining $N$ nonzero components of the superconducting order parameter. We find similar results in systems with repulsive intraband interactions. The dimensionality reduction of the order-parameter space is given by the number of nonpositive eigenvalues of the interaction matrix. Using general models and models for superconducting transition metal dichalcogenides and iron pnictides frequently employed in the literature, we show that constraints must be imposed on the order parameter to ensure a lower bound on the free energy and that subsequent higher-order expansions around the global minimum are thermodynamically stable. We also demonstrate that similar considerations are necessary for unconventional pairing symmetries.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

Topological Superconductivity Mediated by Skyrmionic Magnons

Topological superconductors are associated with the appearance of Majorana bound states, with promising applications in topologically protected quantum computing. In this Letter, we study a system where a skyrmion crystal is interfaced with a normal metal. Through interfacial exchange coupling, spin fluctuations in the skyrmion crystal mediate an effective electron-electron interaction in the normal metal. We study superconductivity within a weak-coupling approach and solve gap equations both close to the critical temperature and at zero temperature. Special features in the effective electron-electron interaction due to the noncolinearity of the magnetic ground state yield topological superconductivity at the interface.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

Interfacial Magnon-Mediated Superconductivity in Twisted Bilayer Graphene

The interfacial coupling between electrons and magnons in adjacent layers can mediate an attractive electron-electron interaction and induce superconductivity. We consider magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene sandwiched between two ferromagnetic insulators to optimize this effect. As a result, magnons induce an interlayer superconducting state characterized by $p$-wave symmetry. We investigate two candidate ferromagnets. The van der Waals ferromagnet CrI$_3$ stands out because it allows compression to tune the superconducting state with an exponential sensitivity. This control adds a new dimension to the tunability of twisted bilayer graphene. Our results open a new path for exploring magnon-induced superconductivity.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2022

Dominant superconducting correlations in a Luttinger liquid induced by spin fluctuations

We study spin-fluctuation mediated divergent superconducting fluctuations in a Luttinger liquid proximity-coupled to a spin chain. Our study provides insight into how spin fluctuations can induce superconductivity in a strongly correlated non-Fermi liquid with repulsive electronic interactions only. The electrons in the system are governed by the Extended Hubbard Hamiltonian and are coupled to a chain of localized spins modeled by the spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ $XX$ Hamiltonian. Using a multichannel Luttinger liquid approach, we determine the phase diagram of the metal chain. We find that spin-polarized triplet superconducting correlations persist for repulsive electronic interactions for sufficiently large interchain couplings.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

One-Dimensional Spin-Polarised Surface States -- A Comparison of Bi(112) with Other Vicinal Bismuth Surfaces

Vicinal surfaces of bismuth are unique test-beds for investigating one-dimensional (1D) spin-polarised surface states that may one day be used in spintronic devices. In this work, two such states have been observed for the (112) surface when measured using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and spin-resolved ARPES, and when calculated using a tight-binding (TB) model and with density functional theory (DFT). The surface states appear as elongated Dirac-cones which are 1D and almost dispersionless in the ${k}_{\text{y}}$-direction, but disperse with energy in the orthogonal ${k}_{\text{x}}$-direction to form two ``$\times$''-like features centered at the ${k}_{\text{y}}$-line through $Γ$. Unlike many materials considered for spintronic applications, their 1D nature suggests that conductivity and spin-transport properties are highly dependent on direction. The spin-polarisation of the surface states is mainly in-plane and parallel to the 1D state, but there are signs of a tilted out-of-plane spin-component for one of them. The Bi(112) surface states resemble those found for other vicinal surfaces of bismuth, strongly indicating that their existence and general properties are robust properties of vicinal surfaces of bismuth. Furthermore, differences in the details of the states, particularly related to their spin-polarisation, suggest that spin-transport properties may be engineered simply by precise cutting and polishing of the crystal.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Going beyond the Chandrasekhar-Clogston limit in a flat-band superconductor

The Chandrasekhar-Clogston limit normally places stringent conditions on the magnitude of the magnetic field that can coexist with spin-singlet superconductivity, restricting the critical induced Zeeman shift to a fraction of the superconducting gap. Here, we consider a model system where the spin-singlet Cooper pairing in a dispersive band crossing the Fermi level is boosted by an additional flat-band located away from the Fermi level. The boosting of the pairing in the dispersive band allows for nontrivial solutions to the coupled gap equations for spin-splitting fields considerably larger than the superconducting gaps at zero field. Further, the additional Cooper pairing in the flat-band, away from the Fermi level, increases the superconducting condensation energy without affecting the paramagnetic susceptibility of the system, making the free energy favor the superconducting state. This opens up the possibility for spin-singlet superconductivity beyond the standard Chandrasekhar-Clogston limit.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2022

Zero temperature superconductor - edge metal - insulator transition in $2D$ bosonic systems

Motivated by the recent experimental observation of an intermediate bosonic metallic state in the two-dimensional superconductor-insulator transition at $T=0$, we study an extended Bose Hubbard model in the limit of large number of particles per site. Using a representation of this in terms of two coupled $XY$ models, we find, in addition to an insulating phase and a $(2+1)D$ superfluid phase, two other phases. One phase is a $2D$ superfluid phase where a crossover from $(2+1)D$ to $2D$ has taken place as a result of incipient charge ordering, signaled by $θ$ disordering, and which is closely related to a supersolid phase. The other new phase is an edge metal state characterized by zero superfluid stiffness, zero charge ordering, and zero bulk compressibility. However, the edge compressibility of the system is nonzero. While we do not find any intermediate state with $2D$ metallic conductivity, we are able to connect these results to STM experiments on $\mathrm{MoS_2}$ showing brims of finite density of states around the entire edge of $2D$ $\mathrm{MoS_2}$ samples.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2022

Quantum topological phase transitions in skyrmion crystals

Topological order is important in many aspects of condensed matter physics, and has been extended to bosonic systems. In this Letter we report on the nontrivial topology of the magnon bands in two distinct quantum skyrmion crystals appearing in zero external magnetic field. This is revealed by nonzero Chern numbers for some of the bands. As a bosonic analog of the quantum anomalous Hall effect, we show that topological magnons can appear in skyrmion crystals without explicitly breaking time-reversal symmetry with an external magnetic field. By tuning the value of the easy-axis anisotropy at zero temperature, we find eight quantum topological phase transitions signaled by discontinuous jumps in certain Chern numbers. We connect these quantum topological phase transitions to gaps closing and reopening between magnon bands.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Quantum fluctuations in the order parameter of quantum skyrmion crystals

Traditionally, skyrmions are treated as continuum magnetic textures of classical spins with a well-defined topological skyrmion number. Owing to their topological protection, skyrmions have attracted great interest as building blocks in future memory technology. Smaller skyrmions offer greater memory density, however, quantum effects are not negligible for skyrmions with sizes of just a few lattice constants. In this paper we study quantum fluctuations around dense skyrmion crystal ground states, and focus on the utility of a discretized order parameter for quantum skyrmions. The order parameter is found to be a useful indicator of the existence of quantum skyrmions, and captures the quantum phase transition between two distinct skyrmion phases.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

Magnon drag in a metal-insulating antiferromagnet bilayer

We study a bilayer structure consisting of an antiferromagnetic insulator and a normal metal. An electron current is driven in the normal metal with direction parallel to the interface between the materials. Due to interfacial exchange coupling between the localized spins in the antiferromagnet and the itinerant electrons in the normal metal, a magnon current can then be induced in the antiferromagnet. Using an uncompensated antiferromagnetic interface, creating an asymmetry in the interfacial coupling to the two degenerate magnon modes, we find that it is possible to generate a magnon spin-current. The magnon spin-current can be enhanced by increasing the temperature or by spin-splitting the magnon modes.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗