Fractional flux quanta at intrinsic metallic interfaces of noncentrosymmetric superconductors

Abstract

We examine intrinsic interfaces separating crystalline twin domains of opposite spin-orbit coupling in a noncentrosymmetric superconductor such as CePt3Si. At these interfaces, low-energy Andreev bound states occur as a consequence of parity-mixed Cooper pairing, and a superconducting phase which violates time reversal symmetry can be realized. This provides an environment allowing flux lines with fractional flux quanta to be formed at the interface. Their presence could have strong implications on the flux creep behavior in such superconductors.

4 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Andreev bound states and tunneling characteristics of a non-centrosymmetric superconductor
• Effects of impurities on superconductivity in noncentrosymmetric compounds
• Tunnelling between non-centrosymmetric superconductors with significant spin-orbit splitting studied theoretically within a two-band treatment
• Using Josephson junctions to determine the pairing state of superconductors without crystal inversion symmetry

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• Large spin-orbit splitting and weakly-anisotropic superconductivity revealed with single-crystalline noncentrosymmetric CaIrSi3
• Phase diagram of geometric d-wave superconductor Josephson junctions
• Superconductivity in a Magnetic Rashba Semimetal EuAuBi
• Interface currents and magnetization in singlet-triplet superconducting heterostructures: Role of chiral and helical domains
• Superconducting meron phase in locally noncentrosymmetric superconductors