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Time-reversal symmetry breaking at Josephson tunnel junctions of purely d-wave superconductors
- Source :
- ResearcherID
- Publication Year :
- 2000
-
Abstract
- We study spontaneous time-reversal symmetry breaking at Josephson tunnel junctions of d-wave superconductors in the absence of subdominant components of the order parameter. For tunnel junctions, when the orientation is close to 0/45 (for which a gap lobe points towards the junction on one side and a gap node on the other), the mechanism of the symmetry breaking is the splitting of midgap states (MGS) by spontaneous establishment of a phase difference $\phi=\pm \pi/2$ across the junction. This occurs for transparencies $D\gg\xi_0/\lambda$ and temperatures $k_BT\ll D\Delta_0$, where $\xi_0$ is the coherence length, $\lambda$ is the penetration depth, and $\Delta_0$ is the maximum energy gap. On the other hand. tunnel junctions with $D\ll\xi_0/\lambda$ effectively behave as surfaces, for which the mechanism of symmetry breaking is self-induced Doppler shifts of MGS. For this instability, we calculate the phase transition temperature $k_BT_{TRSB}=(1/6)(\xi_0/\lambda)\Delta_0$ and show that the spatial shape of the gap is unimportant.<br />Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures embedded; rewritten introduction
- Subjects :
- Superconductivity
Physics
Condensed matter physics
Band gap
Condensed Matter - Superconductivity
FOS: Physical sciences
Order (ring theory)
Condensed Matter::Mesoscopic Systems and Quantum Hall Effect
Coherence length
Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
Orientation (vector space)
T-symmetry
Quantum mechanics
Condensed Matter::Superconductivity
Symmetry breaking
Penetration depth
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- ResearcherID
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....8cea94de392b4205c237c3de0e827cad