Broken translational and time-reversal symmetry in superconducting films

Abstract

We demonstrate that films of unconventional (d-wave) superconductor at temperatures $T\lesssim 0.43T_c$ can exhibit unusual superconducting phases. The new ground states beside the broken gauge and the point group symmetries can spontaneously break (i) continuous translational symmetry and form periodic order parameter structures in the plane of the film, or (ii) time-reversal symmetry and develop supercurrent flowing along the film. These states are result of the strong transverse inhomogeniety present in films with thickness of several coherence lengths. We show a natural similarity between formation of these states and the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov state.

arXiv comment4+ pages, 4 figures, to appear in PRL

References in corpus (11)

• Inhomogeneous Superconductivity in Condensed Matter and QCD
• Tunneling into Current-Carrying Surface States of High T${}_c$ Superconductors
• Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov State in Heavy Fermion Superconductors
• BEC-BCS crossover, phase transitions and phase separation in polarized resonantly-paired superfluids
• Thermodynamic properties of thin films of superfluid 3He-A
• Phase Diagram and Spectroscopy of FFLO states of two-dimensional d-wave superconductors
• Low-Temperature Magnetic Penetration Depth in d-Wave Superconductors: Zero-Energy Bound State and Impurity Effects
• Crystalline order in superfluid 3He films
• Time-reversal symmetry breaking at Josephson tunnel junctions of purely d-wave superconductors
• A novel route to a finite center-of-mass momentum pairing state; current driven FFLO state
• Electronic structure of d-wave superconducting quantum wires

Cited by in corpus (42)

• Symmetry Protected Topological Superfluids and Superconductors --- From the Basics to ${}^3$He ---
• Spontaneous currents in superconducting systems with strong spin-orbit coupling
• Superconductivity with Finite-Momentum Pairing in Zero Magnetic Field
• Spontaneously broken time-reversal symmetry in high-temperature superconductors
• Evidence for a Spatially-Modulated Superfluid Phase of ${}^3$He under Confinement
• Spontaneously broken translational symmetry at edges of high-temperature superconductors: thermodynamics in magnetic field
• Search for broken time-reversal symmetry near the surface of YBCO films using Beta-NMR
• Quasiclassical expressions for the free energy of superconducting systems
• Phase transitions in superconductor/ferromagnet bilayer driven by spontaneous supercurrents
• Andreev Bound States in Superconducting Films and Confined Superfluid He-3
• Disorder-robust phase crystal in high-temperature superconductors stabilized by strong correlations
• Non-equilibrium strong-coupling theory for a driven-dissipative ultracold Fermi gas in the BCS-BEC crossover region
• In-plane FFLO instability in superconductor-normal metal bilayer system under non-equilibrium quasiparticle distribution
• Phase Crystals
• Field-induced reentrant superconductivity in thin films of nodal superconductor
• Stripe order in superfluid 3He confined in narrow cylinders
• Breaking time-reversal and translational symmetry at edges of $d$-wave superconductors: microscopic theory and comparison with quasiclassical theory
• Fermi surface effect on spontaneous breaking of time-reversal symmetry in unconventional superconducting films
• Symmetry conditions of a nodal superconductor for generating robust flat-band Andreev bound states at its dirty surface
• Enhancing of the in-plane FFLO-state critical temperature in heterostructures by the orbital effect of the magnetic field
• Triplet FFLO Superconductivity in the doped Kitaev-Heisenberg Honeycomb Model
• Stripe order and diode effect in two-dimensional Rashba superconductors
• Spontaneous symmetry-breaking at surfaces of $d$-wave superconductors: influence of geometry and surface ruggedness
• Time-reversal symmetry breaking and gapped surface states due to spontaneous emergence of new order in $d$-wave nanoislands
• Influence of diffuse surface scattering on the stability of superconducting phases with spontaneous surface current generated by Andreev bound states
• SuperConga: an open-source framework for mesoscopic superconductivity
• Proposed Fermi-surface reservoir-engineering and application to realizing unconventional Fermi superfluids in a driven-dissipative non-equilibrium Fermi gas
• Spontaneous generation of fractional vortex-antivortex pairs at single edges of high-Tc superconductors
• Surface scattering effect and the stripe order in films of the superfluid ${}^3$He B phase
• Enhanced chiral edge currents and orbital magnetic moment in chiral $d$-wave superconductors from mesoscopic finite-size effects
• Tunnelling conductance of $d+ip$-wave superconductor
• Phase diagrams of a p-Wave superconductor inside a mesoscopic disc-shaped sample
• Quasiclassical analysis of vortex lattice states in Rashba noncentrosymmetric superconductors
• Fulde-Ferrell state in ferromagnetic chiral superconductor with magnetic domain wall
• Engineering nonequilibrium superconducting phases in a voltage-driven superconductor under an external magnetic field
• The magnetic penetration depth influenced by the proximity to the surface
• Mesoscopic p-wave superconductor near the phase transition temperature
• Voltage controllable superconducting state in the multi-terminal superconductor-normal metal bridge
• Time-reversal symmetry breaking phase and gapped surface states in d-wave nanoscale superconductors
• Impurity strength-temperature phase diagram with phase crystals and competing time-reversal symmetry breaking states in nodal $d$-wave superconductors
• Perspectives on Magnetic/Superconductor Hybrid Systems: Long-range Electromagnetic Phenomena Induced by Proximity Effect and Interfacial Spin-orbit Coupling
• Designing edge currents using mesoscopic patterning in chiral d-wave superconductors