Charge-4e Superconductivity from Multicomponent Nematic Pairing: Application to Twisted Bilayer Graphene

Abstract

We show that unconventional nematic superconductors with multicomponent order parameter in lattices with three- and sixfold rotational symmetries support a charge-4e vestigial superconducting phase above Tc. The charge-4e state, which is a condensate of four-electron bound states that preserve the rotational symmetry of the lattice, is nearly degenerate with a competing vestigial nematic state, which is nonsuperconducting and breaks the rotational symmetry. This robust result is the consequence of a hidden discrete symmetry in the Ginzburg-Landau theory, which permutes quantities in the gauge sector and in the crystalline sector of the symmetry group. We argue that random strain generally favors the charge-4e state over the nematic phase, as it acts as a random mass to the former but as a random field to the latter. Thus, we propose that two-dimensional inhomogeneous systems displaying nematic superconductivity, such as twisted bilayer graphene, provide a promising platform to realize the elusive charge-4e superconducting phase.

Source-reported materials — not catalogue approval

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