1,754 research outputs found
Using Josephson junctions to determine the pairing state of superconductors without crystal inversion symmetry
Theoretical studies of a planar tunnel junction between two superconductors
with antisymmetric spin-orbit coupling are presented. The half-space Green's
function for such a superconductor is determined. This is then used to derive
expressions for the dissipative current and the Josephson current of the
junction. Numerical results are presented in the case of the Rashba spin-orbit
coupling, relevant to the much studied compound CePtSi. Current-voltage
diagrams, differential conductance and the critical Josephson current are
presented for different crystallographic orientations and different weights of
singlet and triplet components of the pairing state. The main conclusion is
that Josephson junctions with different crystallographic orientations may
provide a direct connection between unconventional pairing in superconductors
of this kind and the absence of inversion symmetry in the crystal.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure
Quantum transport in noncentrosymmetric superconductors and thermodynamics of ferromagnetic superconductors
We consider a general Hamiltonian describing coexistence of itinerant
ferromagnetism, spin-orbit coupling and mixed spin-singlet/triplet
superconducting pairing in the context of mean-field theory. The Hamiltonian is
diagonalized and exact eigenvalues are obtained, thus allowing us to write down
the coupled gap equations for the different order parameters. Our results may
then be applied to any model describing coexistence of any combination of these
three phenomena. As a specific application of our results, we consider
tunneling between a normal metal and a noncentrosymmetric superconductor with
mixed singlet and triplet gaps. The conductance spectrum reveals information
about these gaps in addition to how the influence of spin-orbit coupling is
manifested. We also consider the coexistence of itinerant ferromagnetism and
triplet superconductivity as a model for recently discovered ferromagnetic
superconductors. The coupled gap equations are solved self-consistently, and we
study the conditions necessary to obtain the coexistent regime of
ferromagnetism and superconductivity. Analytical expressions are presented for
the order parameters, and we provide an analysis of the free energy to identify
the preferred system state. Moreover, we make specific predictions concerning
the heat capacity for a ferromagnetic superconductor. In particular, we report
a nonuniversal relative jump in the specific heat, depending on the
magnetization of the system, at the uppermost superconducting phase transition.
[Shortened abstract due to arXiv submission.]Comment: 19 pages, 15 figures (high quality figures available in published
version). Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Chern-Simons Vortices in Supergravity
We study supersymmetric vortex solutions in three-dimensional abelian gauged
supergravity. First, we construct the general U(1)-gauged D=3, N=2 supergravity
whose scalar sector is an arbitrary Kahler manifold with U(1) isometry. This
construction clarifies the connection between local supersymmetry and the
specific forms of some scalar potentials previously found in the literature --
in particular, it provides the locally supersymmetric embedding of the abelian
Chern-Simons Higgs model. We show that the Killing spinor equations admit
rotationally symmetric vortex solutions with asymptotically conical geometry
which preserve half of the supersymmetry.Comment: 26 pages, LaTeX2
Holonomy from wrapped branes
Compactifications of M-theory on manifolds with reduced holonomy arise as the
local eleven-dimensional description of D6-branes wrapped on supersymmetric
cycles in manifolds of lower dimension with a different holonomy group.
Whenever the isometry group SU(2) is present, eight-dimensional gauged
supergravity is a natural arena for such investigations. In this paper we use
this approach and review the eleven dimensional description of D6-branes
wrapped on coassociative 4-cycles, on deformed 3-cycles inside Calabi-Yau
threefolds and on Kahler 4-cycles.Comment: 1+8 pages, Latex. Proceedings of the Leuven workshop, 2002. v2:
Corrected typos in equations (4)-(8
Magnetic properties of superconductors with strong spin-orbit coupling
We study the response of a superconductor with a strong spin-orbit coupling
on an external magnetic field. The Ginzburg-Landau free energy functional is
derived microscopically for a general crystal structure, both with and without
an inversion center, and for an arbitrary symmetry of the superconducting order
parameter. As a by-product, we obtain the general expressions for the intrinsic
magnetic moment of the Cooper pairs. It is shown that the Ginzburg-Landau
gradient energy in a superconductor lacking inversion symmetry has unusual
structure. The general formalism is illustrated using as an example CePtSi,
which is the first known heavy-fermion superconductor without an inversion
center.Comment: Published version, 14 pages, minor correction
New non compact Calabi-Yau metrics in D=6
A method for constructing explicit Calabi-Yau metrics in six dimensions in
terms of an initial hyperkahler structure is presented. The equations to solve
are non linear in general, but become linear when the objects describing the
metric depend on only one complex coordinate of the hyperkahler 4-dimensional
space and its complex conjugated. This situation in particular gives a dual
description of D6-branes wrapping a complex 1-cycle inside the hyperkahler
space, which was studied by Fayyazuddin. The present work generalize the
construction given by him. But the explicit solutions we present correspond to
the non linear problem. This is a non linear equation with respect to two
variables which, with the help of some specific anzatz, is reduced to a non
linear equation with a single variable solvable in terms of elliptic functions.
In these terms we construct an infinite family of non compact Calabi-Yau
metrics.Comment: A numerical error has been corrected together with the corresponding
analysis of the metri
Superconducting 2D system with lifted spin degeneracy: Mixed singlet-triplet state
Motivated by recent experimental findings, we have developed a theory of the
superconducting state for 2D metals without inversion symmetry modeling the
geometry of a surface superconducting layer in a field-effect-transistor or
near the boundary doped by adsorbed ions. In such systems the two-fold spin
degeneracy is lifted by spin-orbit interaction, and singlet and triplet
pairings are mixed in the wave function of the Cooper pairs. As a result, spin
magnetic susceptibility becomes anisotropic and Knight shift retains finite and
rather high value at T=0.Comment: 5 pages, no figure
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