Superconductivity and Local Inversion-Symmetry Breaking

Abstract

Inversion and time reversal are essential symmetries for the structure of Cooper pairs in superconductors. The loss of one or both leads to modifications to this structure and can change the properties of the superconducting phases in profound ways. Lacking inversion, superconductivity in noncentrosymmetric materials has become an important topic, in particular, in the context of topological superconductivity as well as unusual magnetic and magneto-electric properties. Recently, crystal structures with local, but not global inversion-symmetry breaking have attracted attention, as superconductivity can exhibit phenomena not naively expected in centrosymmetric materials. After introducing the concept of locally noncentrosymmetric crystals and different material realizations, we discuss consequences of such local symmetry breaking on the classification, the expected and, in parts, already observed phenomenology of unconventional superconductivity, and possible topological superconducting phases.

21 pages, 5 figures. Submitted to Annual Reviews of Condensed Matter Physics

References in corpus (14)

• Topological Insulators with Inversion Symmetry
• Classification of topological insulators and superconductors in three spatial dimensions
• Non-Abelian Topological Order in S-Wave Superfluids of Ultracold Fermionic Atoms
• Topological Phases of Noncentrosymmetric Superconductors: Edge States, Majorana Fermions, and the Non-Abelian Statistics
• Topology of crystalline insulators and superconductors
• Review of U-based Ferromagnetic Superconductors: Comparison between UGe2, URhGe, and UCoGe
• Topological surface states in nodal superconductors
• Parity-breaking phases of spin-orbit-coupled metals with gyrotropic, ferroelectric and multipolar orders
• Superconductivity in the Honeycomb-Lattice Pnictide SrPtAs
• Spin-orbit-parity coupled superconductivity in topological monolayer WTe${}_2$
• Möbius topological superconductivity in UPt${}_3$
• Superconducting gap symmetry of the BiS${}_2$-based superconductor LaO${}_{0.5}$F${}_{0.5}$BiSSe elucidated through specific heat measurement
• Superconducting properties of novel BiSe${}_2$-based layered LaO${}_{1-x}$F${}_x$BiSe${}_2$ single crystals
• Microscopic model for the hidden Rashba effect in YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{6+x}$

Cited by in corpus (43)

• Unconventional superconductivity protected from disorder on the kagome lattice
• Quantum-geometry-induced anapole superconductivity
• Topological Superconductivity from Unconventional Band Degeneracy with Conventional Pairing
• Piezoelectric effect and diode effect in anapole and monopole superconductors
• Superconductivity of anomalous pseudospin
• Quantum geometry encoded to pair potentials
• Correlation-induced Fermi surface evolution and topological crystalline superconductivity in CeRh2As2
• Superconducting Diode Effect in Multiphase Superconductors
• Coexistence of local magnetism and superconductivity in the heavy-fermion CeRh${}_2$As${}_2$ revealed by $\mu$SR studies
• Chemical Principles of Intrinsic Topological Superconductors
• Anisotropic magnetic and quadrupolar H-T phase diagram of CeRh2As2
• A mechanism for $\pi$ phase shifts in Little-Parks experiments: application to 4Hb-TaS${}_2$ and to 2H-TaS${}_2$ intercalated with chiral molecules
• Exposing the odd-parity superconductivity in CeRh${}_2$As${}_2$ with hydrostatic pressure
• Extreme orbital ab-plane upper critical fields far beyond Pauli limit in 4Hb-Ta(S, Se)2 bulk crystals
• Evidence for a finite-momentum Cooper pair in tricolor $d$-wave superconducting superlattices
• Magnetic parity violation and parity-time-reversal-symmetric magnets
• Signature of Orbital Driven Finite Momentum Pairing in a 3D Ising Superconductor
• Superconductivity in Two-Dimensional Systems with Unconventional Rashba Bands
• Effects of nucleation at a first-order transition between two superconducting phases: Application to CeRh${}_2$As${}_2$
• Multiphase superconductivity in PdBi2
• Nonlinear optical responses in multi-orbital topological superconductors
• Superconducting Order Parameters in Spin Space Groups: Methodology and Application
• Picosecond Trajectory of Two-dimensional Vortex Motion in FeSe${}_{0.5}$Te${}_{0.5}$ Visualized by Terahertz Second Harmonic Generation
• Real-space Visualization of Charge Density Wave Induced Local Inversion-Symmetry Breaking in a Skyrmion Magnet
• Magnetization amplification in the interlayer pairing superconductor 4Hb-TaS${}_2$
• Unconventional pairing in Ising superconductors: Application to monolayer NbSe${}_2$
• Superconducting meron phase in locally noncentrosymmetric superconductors
• Chern number landscape of spin-orbit coupled chiral superconductors
• Thermodynamics, elastic anomalies and excitations in the field induced phases of CeRh2As2
• Reciprocal and nonreciprocal paraconductivity in bilayer multiphase superconductors
• Spin loop-current textures in Hubbard models
• Uniform and Staggered electric axial moment in zigzag chain
• Topological phases in twisted Rashba superconductors
• Topological in-gap chiral edge states in superconducting Haldane model with spin-orbit coupling
• Inversion-symmetric Electron Gases as New Platforms for Topological Planar Josephson Junctions
• Multiple types of spin textures and robust valley physics in MP${}_2$X${}_6$
• Engineering Helical Superconductors with Multiple Majorana Kramers Pairs via Higher-Order Rashba Spin-Orbit Coupling
• Unconventional superconductivity in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides
• Measurements of electronic band structure in CeCoGe${}_3$ by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy
• Quantum geometric magnetic monopole and two-phase superconductivity in CeRh${}_2$As${}_2$
• La substitution studies on the heavy-fermion superconductor CeRh${}_2$As${}_2$
• Composite Superconducting Orders and Magnetism in CeRh${}_2$As${}_2$
• Quasiclassical theory of vortex states in locally non-centrosymmetric superconductors: application to CeRh${}_2$As${}_2$