English

Odd-parity superconductivity by competing spin-orbit coupling and orbital effect in artificial heterostructures

Superconductivity 2015-10-29 v2 Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics

Abstract

We show that odd-parity superconductivity occurs in multilayer Rashba systems without requiring spin-triplet Cooper pairs. A pairing interaction in the spin-singlet channel stabilizes the odd-parity pair-density-wave (PDW) state in the magnetic field parallel to the two-dimensional conducting plane. It is shown that the layer-dependent Rashba spin-orbit coupling and the orbital effect play essential roles for the PDW state in binary and tricolor heterostructures. We demonstrate that the odd-parity PDW state is a symmetry-protected topological superconducting state characterized by the one-dimensional winding number in the symmetry class BDI. The superconductivity in the artificial heavy-fermion superlattice CeCoIn_5/YbCoIn_5 and bilayer interface SrTiO_3/LaAlO_3 is discussed.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1508.01333,
  title  = {Odd-parity superconductivity by competing spin-orbit coupling and orbital effect in artificial heterostructures},
  author = {Tatsuya Watanabe and Tomohiro Yoshida and Youichi Yanase},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1508.01333},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

To be published in Phys. Rev. B