Effects of nucleation at a first-order transition between two superconducting phases: Application to CeRhAs
arXiv:2307.10374 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevResearch.6.023080
Abstract
Recent experiments observed a phase transition within the superconducting regime of the heavy-fermion system CeRhAs when subjected to a -axis magnetic field. This phase transition has been interpreted as a parity switching from even to odd parity as the field is increased, and is believed to be of first order. If correct, this scenario provides a unique opportunity to study the phenomenon of local nucleation around inhomogeneities in a superconducting context. Here, we study such nucleation in the form of sharp domain walls emerging on a background of spatially varying material properties and hence, critical magnetic field. To this end, we construct a spatially inhomogeneous Ginzburg-Landau functional and apply numerical minimization to demonstrate the existence of localized domain wall solutions and study their physical properties. Furthermore, we propose ultrasound attenuation as an experimental bulk probe of domain wall physics in the system. In particular, we predict the appearance of an absorption peak due to domain wall percolation upon tuning the magnetic field across the first-order transition line. We argue that the temperature dependence of this peak could help identify the nature of the phase transition.
arXiv comment5 pages, 2 figures
References in corpus (24)
- Field-induced transition from even to odd parity superconductivity in CeRhAs
- Multiple Superconducting Phases and Unusual Enhancement of the Upper Critical Field in UTe2
- Superconductivity and Local Inversion-Symmetry Breaking
- Possible quadrupole density wave in the superconducting Kondo lattice CeRh2As2
- Topological crystalline superconductivity in locally noncentrosymmetric CeRhAs
- Observation of antiferromagnetic order as odd-parity multipoles inside the superconducting phase in CeRhAs
- Non-symmorphic symmetry and field-driven odd-parity pairing in CeRhAs
- Topological Crystalline Superconductivity in Locally Non-centrosymmetric Multilayer Superconductors
- Field-angle dependence reveals odd-parity superconductivity in CeRhAs
- Unusual - phase diagram of CeRhAs -- the role of staggered non-centrosymmetricity
- Two scenarios for superconductivity in CeRhAs
- Electronic and dynamical properties of CeRhAs: Role of RhAs layers and expected hidden orbital order
- Even-odd parity transition in strongly correlated locally noncentrosymmetric superconductors : An application to CeRhAs
- Triplet pairing mechanisms from Hund's-Kondo models: applications to UTe and CeRhAs
- Two-dimensional XY-type Magnetic Properties of Locally Noncentrosymmetric Superconductor CeRhAs
- Superconductivity in disordered locally noncentrosymmetric materials: an application to CeRhAs
- Parity transition of spin-singlet superconductivity using sub-lattice degrees of freedom
- Violation of the Pauli-Clogston limit in a heavy Fermion superconductor CeRhAs --Duality of itinerant and localized 4f electrons--
- Spin response and topology of a staggered Rashba superconductor
- Decoupling multi-phase superconductivity from normal state ordering in CeRhAs
- Anisotropic magnetotransport properties of the heavy-fermion superconductor CeRhAs
- Low-Temperature Thermal Conductivity of CeRhAs
- UBe13 and U1-xThxBe13: Unconventional Superconductors
- Tuning the parity of superconductivity in CeRh2As2 via pressure
Cited by in corpus (6)
- Superconducting Diode Effect in Multiphase Superconductors
- Appearance of -axis magnetic moment in odd-parity antiferromagnetic state in CeRhAs revealed by As-NMR
- Field-induced superconductivity mediated by odd-parity multipole fluctuation
- Superconducting meron phase in locally noncentrosymmetric superconductors
- Multipolar fluctuations from localized 4f electrons in CeRh2As2
- Composite Superconducting Orders and Magnetism in CeRhAs