Odd-Parity Topological Superconductors: Theory and Application to Cu_xBi₂Se₃

2009/12/17 by Liang Fu, Erez Berg · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.supr-con #cond-mat.mtrl-sci

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.105.097001

published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 097001 (2010) · 4.1 pages, 2 figures

arxiv created 2009/12/17 · arxiv updated 2013/05/29

Abstract

Topological superconductors have been theoretically predicted as a new class of time-reversal-invariant superconductors which are fully gapped in the bulk but have protected gapless surface Andreev bound states. In this work, we provide a simple criterion that directly identifies this topological phase in odd-parity superconductors. We next propose a two-orbital U-V pairing model for the newly discovered superconductor Cu_xBi₂Se₃%. Due to its peculiar three-dimensional Dirac band structure, we find that an inter-orbital triplet pairing with odd-parity is favored in a significant part of the phase diagram, and therefore gives rise to a topological superconductor phase. Finally we propose sharp experimental tests of such a pairing symmetry.

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