Microscopic approach to the problem of enhancement and suppression of superconductivity on twinning planes

Abstract

Using a microscopic approach, we revisit the problem of superconducting critical temperature change in the presence of twin boundaries. We show that both critical temperature enhancement and suppression can come purely from single-electron geometric effects. These include aspects of scattering of electrons on these crystalline defects even when the coupling constant is unchanged. We consider two-dimensional rectangular and three-dimensional body-centered-cubic lattices with on-site s-wave superconducting pairing, nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor hoppings. In the considered two-dimensional lattice with twin boundaries, the superconducting critical temperature associated with twinning planes is suppressed for moderate band filling and enhanced for an almost empty or filled band. The superconducting phase diagram is more diverse for the three-dimensional lattice, which is caused by the interplay of van Hove singularity, changing coordination number, and modification of distances to nearest and next-nearest neighbors.

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