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Chiral Higgs Mode in Nematic Superconductors
Hiroki Uematsu1, Takeshi Mizushima1, Atsushi Tsuruta1
1Department of Materials Engineering Science, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-8531, Japan.
Physical Review Letters
|December 24, 2019
Summary
Nematic superconductivity in doped topological insulators reveals unique electromagnetic responses. Researchers identified two bosonic modes, the nematicity and chiral Higgs modes, offering insights into broken symmetries and pairing channels.
Area of Science:
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Materials Science
- Quantum Materials
Background:
- Nematic superconductivity, characterized by broken rotational symmetry, has been observed in doped topological insulators like MxB2Se3.
- Understanding the underlying bosonic excitations and their relation to broken symmetries is crucial for characterizing these novel superconducting states.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the electromagnetic (EM) response of nematic superconductors as a spectroscopic tool for bosonic excitations.
- To identify and characterize characteristic bosonic modes associated with broken symmetries and pairing channels in these materials.
Main Methods:
- Application of quasiclassical Keldysh theory to model the EM response.
- Analysis of power absorption spectra to detect bosonic modes.
- Theoretical investigation of the nematicity mode and the chiral Higgs mode.
Main Results:
- Two distinct bosonic modes, the nematicity mode and the chiral Higgs mode, were identified in the EM response.
- The chiral Higgs mode softens at a critical doping level, indicating a transition to a chiral ground state with broken time-reversal and mirror symmetry.
- EM power absorption spectra directly reflect the evolution of the bosonic spectrum and contributions from various pairing channels.
Conclusions:
- The electromagnetic response serves as a powerful spectroscopy for probing bosonic excitations in nematic superconductors.
- The identified bosonic modes provide direct signatures of the broken symmetries and pairing states in these materials.
- The study reveals a dynamical instability in the nematic state driven by the chiral Higgs mode, leading to new chiral superconducting phases.
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