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DOE OSTI · 2421980

Pair breaking in superconductors with strong spin-orbit coupling

Cavanagh, D. C.·Agterberg, Daniel F.·Brydon, P. R.
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Abstract

Here we study the influence of symmetry-breaking perturbations on superconductivity in multiorbital materials, with a particular focus on an external magnetic field. We introduce the field-fitness function which characterizes the pair-breaking effects of the perturbation on a given superconducting state. For even-parity superconductors we find that this field-fitness function for an external magnetic field is one, implying that the paramagnetic response is controlled only by a generalized effective g factor. For odd-parity superconductors, the interplay of the effective g factor and the field-fitness function can lead to counterintuitive results. We demonstrate this for p-wave pairing in the effective j = $\frac{3}{2}$ electronic states of the Luttinger-Kohn model.

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Cavanagh, D. C., Agterberg, Daniel F., Brydon, P. R.. 2023-02-17. Pair breaking in superconductors with strong spin-orbit coupling. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.107.l060504

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