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Yuki Nagai

Publications and source records attributed to Yuki Nagai.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
arXiv2015

Inverse coherence effects in nuclear magnetic relaxation rates as a sign of topological superconductivity

We reveal that three-dimensional multi-orbital topological superconductivity can be identified by a bulk measurement, i.e., the temperature dependence of nuclear magnetic relaxation (NMR) rates. Below a critical temperature $T_{\rm c}$, the NMR rate in the topological state exhibits an anti-peak profile, which is opposite to the conventional $s$-wave state. This inversion coherence effect comes from a twist of order parameters with respect to orbital and spin degrees of freedom. Our self-consistent calculations in the model for Cu$_{x}$Bi$_{2}$Se$_{3}$ prove that the inverse coherence effect appears as a concave temperature dependence of the NMR rates. We propose that a time-reversal-invariant orbital-singlet spin-triplet topological superconductivity is characterized by the temperature dependence of the NMR rate.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2015

Orbital angular momentum in a nonchiral topological superconductor

We investigate the bulk orbital angular momentum in a two-dimensional time-reversal broken topological superconductor with the Rashba spin-orbit interaction, the Zeeman interaction, and the $s$-wave pairing potential. Prior to the topological phase transition, we find the crossover from $s$ wave to $p$ wave. For the large spin-orbit interaction, even in the topological phase, $L_z/N$ does not reach $-1/2$, which is the intrinsic value in chiral $p$-wave superconductors. Here $L_z$ and $N$ are the bulk orbital angular momentum and the total number of electrons at zero temperature, respectively. Finally, we discuss the effects of nonmagnetic impurities.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2015

First-principle study of antimony doping effects on the iron-based superconductor CaFe(Sb$_{x}$As$_{1-x}$)$_{2}$

We study antimony doping effects in the iron-based superconductor CaFe(Sb$_{x}$As$_{1-x}$)$_{2}$ by using the first-principle calculation. The calculations reveal that the substitution of the doped antimony atom into As of the chainlike As layers is more stable than that in FeAs layers. This prediction can be checked by experiments. Our results suggest that doping homologous elements into the chainlike As layers existing only in novel 112 system is responsible for rising up the critical temperature. We discuss antimony doping effects on the electronic structure. It is found that the calculated band structures with and without the antimony doping are similar to each other within our framework.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2015

Non-fragile superconductivity with nodes in the superconducting topological insulator CuxBi2Se3: Zeeman orbital field and non-magnetic impurities

We study the robustness against non-magnetic impurities in the topological superconductor with point nodes, focusing on an effective model of Cu$_{x}$Bi$_{2}$Se$_{3}$. We find that the topological superconductivity with point-nodes is not fragile against non-magnetic impurities, although the superconductivity with nodes in past studies is usually fragile. Exchanging the role of spin with the one of orbital, and vice versa, we find that in the "dual" space the topological superconductor with point-nodes is regarded as the intra-orbital spin-singlet $s$-wave one. From the viewpoint of the dual space, we deduce that the point-node state is not fragile against non-magnetic impurity, when the orbital imbalance in the normal states is small. Since the spin imbalance is induced by the Zeeman magnetic field, we shall name this key quantity for the impurity effects Zeeman "orbital" field. The numerical calculations support that the deduction is correct. If the Zeeman orbital field is small, the topological superconductivity is not fragile in dirty materials, even with nodes. Thus, the topological superconductors can not be simply regarded as one of the conventional unconventional superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2015

Topological s-wave pairing superconductivity with spatial inhomogeneity: Mid-gap-state appearance and robustness of superconductivity

We study the quasiparticle spectrum of 2D topological $s$-wave superconductors with the Zeeman magnetic field and the Rashba spin-orbit coupling in the presence of spatial inhomogeneity. Solving the real-space Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations, we focus on the excitations within the superconducting gap amplitude, i.e., the appearance of mid-gap states. Two kinds of potential functions, line-type (a chain of impurities) and point-type (a single impurity) ones are examined to take spatial inhomogeneity into account. The line setting shows a link of the mid-gap states with the gapless surface modes indicated by the bulk-boundary correspondence in topological superfluid. The point one shows that the quasiparticles with mid-gap energy are much easily excited by an impurity when the Zeeman magnetic field increases within the topological number to be unchanged. Thus, we obtain insights into the robustness of a topological superconductor against non-magnetic impurities. Moreover, we derive an effective theory applicable to high magnetic fields. The effective gap is the mixture of the chiral $p$-wave and $s$-wave characters. The former is predominant when the magnetic field increases. Therefore, we claim that a chiral $p$-wave character of the effective gap function creates the mid-gap states.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2015

Surface states around a vortex in topological superconductors: Intersection of a surface and a vortex

We numerically show that the zero-energy Majorana surface states are suppressed around a vortex in the three-dimensional topological superconductors such as Cu$_{x}$Bi$_{2}$Se$_{3}$ and Sn$_{1-x}$In$_{x}$Te. On the other hand, the zero-energy Majorana bound states along the vortex line are robust against cut by the surface. The suppression of the surface bound states is similar to that with a magnetic impurity on the surface of the topological insulator. The suppression of the surface-bound states around a vortex can be observed as the unconventional energy dependence of imaging of the scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2014

Imaging Josephson Vortices on the Surface Superconductor Si(111)-(root7xroot3)-In using a Scanning Tunneling Microscope

We have studied the superconducting Si(111)-(root7xroot3)-In surface using a 3He-based low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope (STM). Zero-bias conductance (ZBC) images taken over a large surface area reveal that vortices are trapped at atomic steps after magnetic fields are applied. The crossover behavior from Pearl to Josephson vortices is clearly identified from their elongated shapes along the steps and significant recovery of superconductivity within the cores. Our numerical calculations combined with experiments clarify that these characteristic features are determined by the relative strength of the interterrace Josephson coupling at the atomic step.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗
arXiv2014

Non-magnetic impurity effects in a three-dimensional topological superconductor: From p- to s-wave behaviors

Unconventional features in superconductivity are revealed by responses to impurity scattering. We study non-magnetic impurity effects in a three-dimensional topological superconductor, focusing on an effective model (massive Dirac Hamiltonian with s-wave on-site pairing) of Copper-doped bismuth-selenium compounds. Using a self-consistent T-matrix approach for impurity scattering, we examine in-gap states in density of states. We find that the results are well characterized by a single material variable, which measures relativistic effects in the Dirac Hamiltonian. In non-relativistic regime, an odd-parity superconducting state is fragile against non-magnetic impurities. We show that this behavior is caused by a p-wave character involved in the topological superconducting state. In contrast, we show that in relativistic regime the superconductivity is robust against non-magnetic impurities, owing to an s-wave character. To summarize, the system has two aspects, p- and s-wave features, depending on the weight of relativistic effects.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2014

Vortex Core Structure in Multilayered Rashba Superconductors

We numerically study the electronic structure of a single vortex in two dimensional superconducting bilayer systems within the range of the mean-field theory. The lack of local inversion symmetry in the system is taken into account through the layer dependent Rashba spin-orbit coupling. The spatial profiles of the pair potential and the local quasiparticle density of states are calculated in the clean spin-singlet superconductor on the basis of the quasiclassical theory. In particular, we discuss the characteristic core structure in the pair-density wave state, which is spatially modulated exotic superconducting phase in a high magnetic field.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2014

Impurity effects in a two-dimensional topological superconductor: A link of Tc-robustness with a topological number

Impurity effects are probes for revealing an unconventional property in superconductivity. We study effects of non-magnetic impurities, in a 2D topological superconductor with s-wave pairing, the Rashba spin-orbit coupling, and the Zeeman term. Using a self-consistent T-matrix approach, we calculate a phenomenological formula for the Thouless-Kohmoto-Nightingale-Nijs (TKNN) invariant in interacting systems, as well as density of states, with different magnetic fields. This quantity weakly depends on the magnetic field, when a spectral gap opens, whereas this changes drastically, when in-gap states occurs. Furthermore, in the latter case, we find that the Anderson's theorem (robustness of s-wave superconductivity against non-magnetic impurities) breaks down. We discuss the origin, from the viewpoints of both unconventional superconductivity and the TKNN invariant.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2014

Field-angle-dependent low-energy excitations around a vortex in the superconducting topological insulator CuxBi2Se3

We study the quasiparticle excitations around a single vortex in the superconducting topological insulator Cu$_{x}$Bi$_{2}$Se$_{3}$, focusing on a superconducting state with point nodes. Inspired by the recent Knight shift measurements, we propose two ways to detect the positions of point nodes, using an explicit formula of the density of states with Kramer-Pesch approximation in the quasiclassical treatment. The zero-energy local density of states around a vortex parallel to the $c$-axis has a twofold shape and splits along the nodal direction with increasing energy; these behaviors can be detected by the scanning tunneling microscopy. An angular dependence of the density of states with a rotating magnetic field on the $a$-$b$ plane has deep minima when the magnetic field is parallel to the directions of point nodes, which can be detected by angular-resolved heat capacity and thermal conductivity measurements. All the theoretical predictions are detectable via standard experimental techniques in magnetic fields.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2014

Spin-polarized Majorana Bound States inside a Vortex Core in Topological Superconductors

We reveal that Majorana bound states inside the vortex core in an odd-parity topological superconductivity classified as "pseudo-scalar" type in the gap function are distinctly spin-polarized by solving the massive Dirac Bogoliubov-de Gennes (BdG) equation considering the spin-orbit coupling. This result is universal for "Dirac superconductivity" whose rotational degree of freedom is characterized by the total angular momentum J = S + L and in marked contrast to the spin-degeneracy of the core bound states as the consequence of the conventional BdG equation. The spin-polarized vortex core can be easily detected by spin-sensitive probes such as the neutron scattering and other measurements well above the first critical magnetic field H_{c1}.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2014

Quasiclassical Treatment and Odd-parity/Triplet Correspondence in Topological Superconductors

We construct a quasiclassical framework for topological superconductors with the strong spin-orbit coupling such as CuxBi2Se3. In the manner of the quasiclassical treatment, decomposing the slowly varying component from the total quasi-particle wave function, the original massive Dirac Bogoliubov-de Gennes (BdG) Hamiltonian derived from the tight-binding model represented by 8 x 8 matrix is reduced to 4 x 4 one. The resultant equations are equivalent to Andreev-type equations of singlet or triplet superconductors, in which the apparent spin-orbit coupling vanishes. Using this formalism, we find a fact that the odd-parity superconductivity in topological superconductors turns to the spin-triplet one. % without the spin-orbit coupling through the quasiclassical treatment. Moreover, in terms of the quasiclassical treatment, we show that the topologically-protected zero-energy states in topological superconductors has the correspondence to the Andreev bound states established in a long history of studies for the unconventional superconductors. This clearly indicates that low-energy non-trivial superconducting properties in the topological superconductors can be analyzed by the established theoretical descriptions on the spin-triplet superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2014

Field-angle Resolved Flux-flow Resistivity as a Phase-sensitive Probe of Unconventional Cooper Pairing

We theoretically investigate the applied magnetic field-angle dependence of the flux-flow resistivity $ρ_{\rm f}(α_{\rm M})$ for an uniaxially anisotropic Fermi surface. $ρ_{\rm f}$ is related to the quasiparticle scattering rate $\varGamma$ inside a vortex core, which reflects the sign change in the superconducting pair potential. We find that $ρ_{\rm f}(α_{\rm M})$ is sensitive to the sign-change in the pair potential and has its maximum when the magnetic field is parallel to the gap-node direction. We propose the measurement of the field-angle dependent oscillation of $ρ_{\rm f}(α_{\rm M})$ as a phase-sensitive field-angle resolved experiment.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2013

Inhomogeneity Effects in Topological Superconductors

We have constructed a quasiclassical framework on superconductors with strong spin-orbit couplings, applicable to CuxBi2Se3[Y. Nagai, H. Nakamura, and M. Machida: arXiv:1305.3025]. The notable point is that in this framework the Bogoliubov-de Gennes Hamiltonians with suggested odd-parity pairing states turn to quasiclassical ones with usual spin-triplet Cooper pairs. Using this quasiclassical theory, we can investigate inhomogeneity effects such as the phenomena with vortices and surfaces in this superconductors and shed light on the pairing state of topological superconductors. In this paper, we apply the quasiclassical framework to the surface bound states with the Dirac-cone energy dispersion originated from the topological invariant in the parent compound Bi2Se3 in order to investigate the robustness of these bound states under the superconducting order parameter. The odd-parity gap functions can not open on the Dirac-cone-dispersion band in the Cu-doped Bi$_{2}$Se$_{3}$ superconductor. We show that the massless Dirac quasiparticles originated from the normal-state topological invariant and the Majorana quasiparticles coexist with each other on the surface in the odd-parity topological superconductivity. Inhomogeneity effects can be easily investigated with the use of our quasiclassical framework in topological superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2013

Numerical construction of a low-energy effective Hamiltonian in a self-consistent Bogoliubov-de Gennes approach of superconductivity

We propose a fast and efficient approach for solving the Bogoliubov-de Gennes (BdG) equations in superconductivity, with a numerical matrix-size reduction procedure proposed by Sakurai and Sugiura [J. Comput. Appl. Math. 159, 119 (2003)]. The resultant small-size Hamiltonian contains the information of the original BdG Hamiltonian in a given energy domain. In other words, the present approach leads to a numerical construction of a low-energy effective theory in superconductivity. The combination with the polynomial expansion method allows a self-consistent calculation of the BdG equations. Through numerical calculations of quasi-particle excitations in a vortex lattice, thermal conductivity, and nuclear magnetic relaxation rate, we show that our approach is suitable for evaluating physical quantities in a large-size superconductor and a nano-scale superconducting device, with the mean-field superconducting theory.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2013

Effect of anisotropic Fermi surface on the flux-flow resistivity under rotating magnetic field

We numerically investigate the effect of in-plane anisotropic Fermi surface (FS) on the flux-flow resistivity $ρ_{\rm f}$ under rotating magnetic field on the basis of the quasiclassical Green's function method. We demonstrate that one can detect the phase in pairing potential of Cooper pair through the field-angular dependence of $ρ_{\rm f}$ even if the FS has in-plane anisotropy. In addition, we point out one can detect the gap-node directions irrespective of the FS anisotropy by measuring $ρ_{\rm f}$ under rotating field.

cond-mat.supr-con↗