Fractional flux plateau in magnetization curve of multicomponent superconductor loop

Abstract

Time-reversal symmetry (TRS) may be broken in superconductors with three or more condensates interacting repulsively, yielding two degenerate states specified by chirality of gap functions. We consider a loop of such a superconductor with two halves occupied by the two states with opposite chiralities. Fractional flux plateaus are found in a magnetization curve associated with free-energy minima, where the two domain walls between the two halves of loop accommodate different intercomponent phase kinks leading to finite winding numbers around the loop only in a part of all condensates. Fractional flux plateaus form pairs related by the flux quantum Φ0=hc/2e, although they individually take arbitrary values depending on material parameters and temperature. This phenomenon is a clear evidence of TRS broken superconductivity, and in a general point of view it provides a novel chance to explore relative phase difference, phase kink and soliton in ubiquitous multicomponent superconductivity such as that in iron pnicitides.

Source-reported materials — not catalogue approval

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