Quasiclassical analysis of vortex lattice states in Rashba noncentrosymmetric superconductors

Abstract

Vortex lattice states occurring in noncentrosymmetric superconductors with the spin-orbit coupling of Rashba type under a magnetic field parallel to the symmetry plane are examined by assuming the $s$-wave pairing case and in an approach combining the quasiclassical theory with the Landau level expansion of the superconducting order parameter. The resulting field-temperature phase diagrams include not only a discontinuous transition but a continuous crossover between different vortex lattice structures, and, further, a critical end point of a structural transition line is found in an intermediate field and at a low temperature in the present approach. It is pointed out that the strange field dependence of the vortex lattice structure is a consequence of that of an anisotropy stemming from the Rashba spin-orbit coupling, and that the critical end point is related to the helical phase modulation peculiar to these materials in the ideal Pauli-limited case. Further, calculation results on the local density of states detectable in STM experiments are also presented.

17 pages and 13 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Unconventional superconductors under rotating magnetic field I: density of states and specific heat
• Broken translational and time-reversal symmetry in superconducting films
• Modulated vortex states in Rashba non-centrosymmetric superconductors
• Nodes vs. minima in the energy gap of iron-pnictides from field-induced anisotropy
• Field-induced reentrant superconductivity in thin films of nodal superconductor

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Superconducting meron phase in locally noncentrosymmetric superconductors
• Quasiclassical theory of vortex states in locally non-centrosymmetric superconductors: application to CeRh${}_2$As${}_2$
• Field resilient superconductivity in atomic layer crystalline materials