Light-induced switching between singlet and triplet superconducting states

While the search for topological triplet-pairing superconductivity has remained a challenge, recent developments in optically stabilizing metastable superconducting states suggest a new route to realizing this elusive phase. Here, we devise a testable theory of competing superconducting orders that...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2024-03
Main Authors: Gassner, Steven, Weber, Clara S, Claassen, Martin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Broken symmetry
Free energy
Order parameters
Parity
Spin-orbit interactions
Superconductivity
Switching
Topology
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:While the search for topological triplet-pairing superconductivity has remained a challenge, recent developments in optically stabilizing metastable superconducting states suggest a new route to realizing this elusive phase. Here, we devise a testable theory of competing superconducting orders that permits ultrafast switching to an opposite-parity superconducting phase in centrosymmetric crystals with strong spin-orbit coupling. Using both microscopic and phenomenological models, we show that dynamical inversion symmetry breaking with a tailored light pulse can induce odd-parity (spin triplet) order parameter oscillations in a conventional even-parity (spin singlet) superconductor, which when driven strongly can send the system to a competing minimum in its free energy landscape. Our results provide new guiding principles for engineering unconventional electronic phases using light, suggesting a fundamentally non-equilibrium route toward realizing topological superconductivity.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.2306.13632