Possible two-component pairings in electron-doped Bi2Se3 based on a tight-binding model

Lei Hao and C. S. Ting
Phys. Rev. B 99, 214507 – Published 17 June 2019

Abstract

Recent experiments show the spontaneous breaking of rotational symmetry in the superconducting topological insulators MxBi2Se3 (M represents Cu, Sr, or Nd), suggesting that the pairing belongs to a two-dimensional representation of the D3d symmetry group of the crystal. Motivated by this progress, we construct an exhaustive list of possible two-component pairings of the MxBi2Se3 superconductors, both for the odd-parity Eu representation and for the even-parity Eg representation. Starting from a tight-binding model for the normal phase of Bi2Se3 and MxBi2Se3, we firstly construct the pairing channels in the spin-orbital basis, up to second-nearest-neighbor pairing correlations in the basal plane. We then infer the properties of these pairings by transforming them to the band (pseudospin) basis for the conduction band. A comparison with the experiments leads to several multichannel pairings as promising pairings for MxBi2Se3 superconductors. Besides a nematic and time-reversal symmetric pairing combination, the other pairings that we have identified are chiral and nematic at the same time, which may be nonunitary and have a spontaneous magnetization. A complementary set of experiments are proposed to identify the true pairing symmetries of these superconductors and their evolution with the doping concentration x.

  • Received 11 December 2018
  • Revised 5 March 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.99.214507

©2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Lei Hao1 and C. S. Ting2

  • 1School of Physics, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China
  • 2Department of Physics and Texas Center for Superconductivity, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204, USA

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Issue

Vol. 99, Iss. 21 — 1 June 2019

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