Article abstract

Nature Physics 4, 639 - 642 (2008)
Published online: 22 June 2008 | doi:10.1038/nphys999

Subject Categories: Condensed-matter physics | Materials physics

Dislocations and vortices in pair-density-wave superconductors

D. F. Agterberg1,2 & H. Tsunetsugu1

With the groundbreaking work of Fulde, Ferrell, Larkin and Ovchinnikov, it was realized that superconducting order can also break translational invariance, leading to a phase in which the Cooper pairs develop a coherent periodic spatially oscillating structure. Such pair-density-wave (PDW) superconductivity has become relevant in a diverse range of systems, including cuprates, organic superconductors, heavy-fermion superconductors, cold atoms and high-density quark matter. Here we show that, in addition to charge-density-wave (CDW) order, there are PDW ground states that induce spin-density-wave (SDW) order when there is no applied magnetic field. Furthermore, we show that PDW phases support topological defects that combine dislocations in the induced CDW/SDW order with a fractional vortex in the usual superconducting order. These defects provide a mechanism for fluctuation-driven non-superconducting CDW/SDW phases and conventional vortices with CDW/SDW order in the core.

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  1. Institute for Solid State Physics, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8581, Japan
  2. Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53211, USA

Correspondence to: D. F. Agterberg1,2 e-mail: agterber@uwm.edu



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