Regensburg 2016 – scientific programme
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TT: Fachverband Tiefe Temperaturen
TT 19: Superconductivity: Poster Session
TT 19.8: Poster
Monday, March 7, 2016, 15:00–18:00, Poster D
The Polar Kerr Effect in Superconductors — •Joshua Robbins, James F. Annett, and Martin Gradhand — University of Bristol, United Kingdom
The polar Kerr effect is an optical phenomenon which arises in states with broken time-reversal symmetry. This effect has recently been observed in a series of unconventional superconductors, including the layered perovskite compound Sr2RuO4[1]. Confirmation of a Kerr signal below Tc supports the hypothesis of chiral p-wave superconductivity in this material. However, the nature of the unconventional superconducting state remains a source of controversy.
Here, we present calculations for the chiral superconducting state including spin-orbit coupling (SOC) by extending the three dimensional, multiband model considered previously [2]. SOC was found to induce strong mixing of the orbital characters within the bandstructure. This mixing is essential for the existence of the polar Kerr effect and the large increase due to SOC has a significant influence on the frequency dependence of the predicted Kerr signal.
We will extend and apply the model to other unconventional superconductors which have displayed the Kerr effect in recent years [3]. This will allow a detailed study of the symmetry properties of these systems and will provide valuable insight into the pairing mechanism of superconductors.
J. Xia et al., PRL 97, 167002 (2006)
M. Gradhand et al., PRB., 88, 094504 (2013)
A. Kapitulnik et al., NJP 11, 055060 (2009)