Resonating valence bonds and mean-fieldd-wave superconductivity in graphite

2006/12/31 by Annica M. Black‐Schaffer, Annica M. Black-Schaffer, Sebastian Doniach · 266 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Boron and Carbon Nanomaterials Research #Condensed matter physics #Graphene research and applications #Graphite, nuclear technology, radiation studies #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Superconductivity #Valence (chemistry) #cond-mat.supr-con

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.75.134512

published in Physical Review B 75(13) (American Physical Society) · 10 pages, 3 figures: minor revisions

openalex publication_date 2007/04/18 · arxiv created 2007/05/23 · arxiv updated 2010/10/25 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06

Abstract

We investigate the possibility of inducing superconductivity in a graphite layer by electronic correlation effects. We use a phenomenological microscopic Hamiltonian which includes nearest-neighbor hopping and an interaction term which explicitly favors nearest-neighbor spin singlets through the well-known resonance valence bond (RVB) character of planar organic molecules. Treating this Hamiltonian in mean-field theory, allowing for bond-dependent variation of the RVB order parameter, we show that both s- and d-wave superconducting states are possible. The d-wave solution belongs to a two-dimensional representation and breaks time-reversal symmetry. At zero doping there exists a quantum critical point at the dimensionless coupling J∕t=1.91 and the s- and d-wave solutions are degenerate for low temperatures. At finite doping the d-wave solution has a significantly higher T_c than the s-wave solution. By using density functional theory we show that the doping induced from sulfur absorption on a graphite layer is enough to cause an electronically driven d-wave superconductivity at graphite-sulfur interfaces. We also discuss applying our results to the case of the intercalated graphites, as well as the validity of a mean-field approach.

Citations

• Resonating-valence-bond contribution to superconductivity inMgB2
• From ultrasoft pseudopotentials to the projector augmented-wave method
• Phase Fluctuations and Pseudogap Phenomena
• Reentrant Metallic Behavior of Graphite in the Quantum Limit
• Magnetic-Field-Induced Insulating Behavior in Highly Oriented Pyrolitic Graphite
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• Self-interaction correction to density-functional approximations for many-electron systems
• Electric Field Effect in Atomically Thin Carbon Films
• Superconducting transitions from the pseudogap state:d-wave symmetry, lattice, and low-dimensional effects
• Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer Theory of Superconductivity in the Case of Overlapping Bands
• Iterative minimization techniques forab initiototal-energy calculations: molecular dynamics and conjugate gradients

Cited by

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• Superconducting states and Majorana modes in transition-metal dichalcogenides under inhomogeneous strain
• Inhomogeneous superconductivity in the presence of time-reversal symmetry
• Indications for intrinsic superconductivity in highly oriented pyrolytic graphite
• Determination of gap solution and critical temperature in doped graphene superconductivity
• Critical chiral Heisenberg model with the functional renormalization group
• Tight-binding description of intrinsic superconducting correlations in multilayer graphene
• Doped Mott Insulators in (111) Bilayers of Perovskite Transition-Metal Oxides with a Strong Spin-Orbit Coupling