2007/06/30 by Suk Bum Chung, Hendrik Bluhm, Eun-Ah Kim
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Condensed Matter Physics #Computer science #Machine learning #Physics #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #Stability (learning theory) #cond-mat.str-el #cond-mat.supr-con
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.99.197002
published as Phys. Rev. Lett., vol 99, 197002 (2007) · 4 pages, 2 figures. The version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett. Compared to version 1, the revised version is shorter and one reference was added
arxiv created 2007/09/19 · openalex publication_date 2007/11/09 · arxiv updated 2011/11/09 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We consider the stability conditions for half-quantum vortices in a quasi-two-dimensional px+ipy superconductor (such as Sr2RuO4 is believed to be). The predicted exotic nature of these excitations has recently attracted much attention, but they have not been observed yet. We emphasize that an isolated half-quantum vortex has a divergent energy cost in the bulk due to its unscreened spin current, which requires two half-quantum vortices with opposite spin winding to pair. We show that the stability of such a pair is enhanced when the ratio of spin superfluid density to superfluid density rhosp/rhos is small. We propose using various mesoscopic geometries to stabilize and observe these exotic excitations.