Charge- 4e Superconductivity from Multicomponent Nematic Pairing: Application to Twisted Bilayer Graphene
Name
PhysRevLett.127.047001.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
269.93 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
217e923f46926de220eb7a9552a7dab1
Author(s)
Fernandes, Rafael M
Fu, Liang
Date Issued
2021
Journal
Physical Review Letters
Publisher
American Physical Society (APS)
Citation
Fernandes, Rafael M and Fu, Liang. 2021. "Charge- 4e Superconductivity from Multicomponent Nematic Pairing: Application to Twisted Bilayer Graphene." Physical Review Letters, 127 (4).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
We show that unconventional nematic superconductors with multicomponent order parameter in lattices with three- and sixfold rotational symmetries support a charge-4e vestigial superconducting phase above T_{c}. The charge-4e state, which is a condensate of four-electron bound states that preserve the rotational symmetry of the lattice, is nearly degenerate with a competing vestigial nematic state, which is nonsuperconducting and breaks the rotational symmetry. This robust result is the consequence of a hidden discrete symmetry in the Ginzburg-Landau theory, which permutes quantities in the gauge sector and in the crystalline sector of the symmetry group. We argue that random strain generally favors the charge-4e state over the nematic phase, as it acts as a random mass to the former but as a random field to the latter. Thus, we propose that two-dimensional inhomogeneous systems displaying nematic superconductivity, such as twisted bilayer graphene, provide a promising platform to realize the elusive charge-4e superconducting phase.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.127.047001
