Breaking of Ginzburg-Landau description in the temperature dependence of the anisotropy in the nematic superconductor

Abstract

Nematic superconductors are characterized by an apparent crystal symmetry breaking that results in the anisotropy of the in-plane upper critical magnetic field $H_{c2}$. The symmetry breaking is usually attributed to the strain of the crystal lattice. The nature and the value of the strain are debatable. We perform systematic measurements of the $H_{c2}$ anisotropy in the high-quality Sr${}_x$Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$ single crystals in the temperature range 1.8~K$<T<T_c\approx 2.7$~K using temperature stabilization with an accuracy of 0.0001 K. We observe that in all tested samples the anisotropy is weakly temperature dependent when $T<0.8T_c$ and smoothly decreases at higher temperatures without any sign of singularity when $T\to T_c$. Such a behavior {is in a drastic contradiction with the prediction of} the Ginzburg-Landau theory for the nematic superconductors. We discuss possible reasons for this discrepancy.

arXiv comment8 pages, 5 figures (including Supplemental Material). Accepted to PRB

References in corpus (22)

• Spin-Rotation Symmetry Breaking in the Superconducting State of CuxBi2Se3
• Thermodynamic evidence for nematic superconductivity in Cu${}_x$Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$
• Superconductivity with topological surface state in SrxBi2Se3
• High-field superconductivity in alloyed MgB2 thin films
• Twofold symmetry of $c$-axis resistivity in topological kagome superconductor CsV${}_3$Sb${}_5$ with in-plane rotating magnetic field
• Limits of the upper critical field in dirty two-gap superconductors
• Rotational Symmetry Breaking in a Trigonal superconductor Nb-doped Bi2Se3
• Upper critical field in dirty two-band superconductors: breakdown of the anisotropic Ginzburg-Landau theory
• Vestigial nematic order and superconductivity in the doped topological insulator Cu${}_x$Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$
• Direct visualization of the nematic superconductivity in Cu${}_x$Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$
• Identification of nematic superconductivity from the upper critical field
• $Z_3$-vestigial nematic order due to superconducting fluctuations in the doped topological insulator Nb${}_x$Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$ and Cu${}_x$Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$
• Structural distortion behind the nematic superconductivity in Sr${}_x$Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$
• Nematic Skyrmions in Odd-Parity Superconductors
• Quasi-particle evidence for the nematic state above $T_{\mathrm{c}}$ in Sr${}_x$Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$
• Evidence for nematic superconductivity of topological surface states in PbTaSe2
• Direction and symmetry transition of the vector order parameter in topological superconductors Cu${}_x$Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$
• Strain-driven nematicity of the odd-parity superconductivity in Sr${}_x$Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$
• Nematic Superconductivity in Cu1.5(PbSe)5(Bi2Se3)6
• Link between superconductivity and a Lifshitz transition in intercalated Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$
• Crystal structure and distortion of superconducting Cu${}_x$Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$
• Spontaneous strain and magnetization in doped topological insulators with nematic and chiral superconductivity

Cited by in corpus (4)

• The absence of Ginzburg-Landau mechanism for vestigial order in the normal phase above a two-component superconductor
• On the existence of nematic-superconducting states in the Ginzburg-Landau regime
• Interaction between spin and Abrikosov vortices in doped topological insulators
• Anomalous Josephson Hall effect in doped topological insulators with the nematic superconductivity