Published April 24, 2024 | Version v1
Journal article

Local condensation of charge-4e superconductivity at a nematic domain wall

  • 1. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA

Description

In the fluctuation regime that precedes the onset of pairing in multicomponent superconductors, such as nematic and chiral superconductors, the normal state is generally unstable toward the formation of charge-4e order—an exotic quantum state in which electrons form coherent quartets rather than Cooper pairs. However, charge-4e order is often suppressed by other competing composite orders, such as nematics. Importantly, the formation of nematic domains is unavoidable due to the long-range strains generated, leading to one-dimensional regions where the competing nematic order is suppressed. Here, we employ a real-space variational approach to demonstrate that, in such nematic domain walls, charge-4e order is locally condensed via a vestigial-order mechanism. We explore the experimental manifestations of this effect and discuss materials in which it can be potentially observed.

Additional details

Identifiers

DOI
10.1103/PhysRevB.109.134514;
arXiv
arXiv:2311.02005;
Crossref Funder ID
10.13039/100000015; 10.13039/100006132; 10.13039/100006151; 10.13039/100013055;

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Physical Review B
Journal Volume
109
Journal Issue
13
Journal Page Range
8 pgs.
ISSN
1550-235X

Optional Information

Copyright
©2024 American Physical Society
Contract/Grant/Project number
DE-SC0020045
Notes
Record automatically processed
Funding organization
U.S. Department of Energy; Office of Science; Basic Energy Sciences; Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering