English

Local condensation of charge-$4e$ superconductivity at a nematic domain wall

Superconductivity 2025-09-15 v1 Strongly Correlated Electrons

Abstract

In the fluctuation regime that precedes the onset of pairing in multi-component superconductors, such as nematic and chiral superconductors, the normal state is generally unstable towards the formation of charge-4e4e order - an exotic quantum state in which electrons form coherent quartets rather than Cooper pairs. However, charge-4e4e order is often suppressed by other competing composite orders, such as nematics. Importantly, the formation of nematic domains is unavoidable due to the long-range strains generated, leading to one-dimensional regions where the competing nematic order is suppressed. Here, we employ a real-space variational approach to demonstrate that, in such nematic domain walls, charge-4e4e order is locally condensed via a vestigial-order mechanism. We explore the experimental manifestations of this effect and discuss materials in which it can be potentially observed.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2311.02005,
  title  = {Local condensation of charge-$4e$ superconductivity at a nematic domain wall},
  author = {Matthias Hecker and Rafael M. Fernandes},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2311.02005},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

8 pages, 3 figures