Superconductivity and pair density waves from nearest-neighbor interactions in frustrated lattice geometries

Abstract

We consider superconductivity and pair density waves (PDWs) arising from off-site pairing in frustrated lattice geometries. We express the pair susceptibility in a generic form that highlights the importance of both the density of states, and the quantum geometry of the eigenstates and calculate the superfluid weight (stiffness) as well as the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless temperature. Paradigmatic bipartite (Lieb) and nonbipartite (kagome) lattices are studied as examples. For bipartite lattices, nearest-neighbor pairing vanishes in a flat band. In the Lieb lattice flat band, we find a PDW at a finite interaction and show that its pair wave vector is determined by the quantum geometry of the band. In the kagome flat band, nearest-neighbor pairing is possible for infinitesimal interactions. At the kagome van Hove singularity, the pair susceptibility predicts a PDW due to sublattice interference, however, we find that its stiffness is zero due to the shape of the Fermi surface. Our results indicate that nearest-neighbor pairing at flat-band and van Hove singularities is strongly influenced by the geometric properties of the eigenfunctions, and it is crucial to determine the superfluid weight of the superconducting and PDW orders as it may contradict the predictions by pairing susceptibility.

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