TY - JOUR
T1 - Charge- 4e Superconductivity from Multicomponent Nematic Pairing
T2 - Application to Twisted Bilayer Graphene
AU - Fernandes, Rafael M.
AU - Fu, Liang
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 American Physical Society.
PY - 2021/7/23
Y1 - 2021/7/23
N2 - We show that unconventional nematic superconductors with multicomponent order parameter in lattices with three- and sixfold rotational symmetries support a charge-4e vestigial superconducting phase above Tc. The charge-4e state, which is a condensate of four-electron bound states that preserve the rotational symmetry of the lattice, is nearly degenerate with a competing vestigial nematic state, which is nonsuperconducting and breaks the rotational symmetry. This robust result is the consequence of a hidden discrete symmetry in the Ginzburg-Landau theory, which permutes quantities in the gauge sector and in the crystalline sector of the symmetry group. We argue that random strain generally favors the charge-4e state over the nematic phase, as it acts as a random mass to the former but as a random field to the latter. Thus, we propose that two-dimensional inhomogeneous systems displaying nematic superconductivity, such as twisted bilayer graphene, provide a promising platform to realize the elusive charge-4e superconducting phase.
AB - We show that unconventional nematic superconductors with multicomponent order parameter in lattices with three- and sixfold rotational symmetries support a charge-4e vestigial superconducting phase above Tc. The charge-4e state, which is a condensate of four-electron bound states that preserve the rotational symmetry of the lattice, is nearly degenerate with a competing vestigial nematic state, which is nonsuperconducting and breaks the rotational symmetry. This robust result is the consequence of a hidden discrete symmetry in the Ginzburg-Landau theory, which permutes quantities in the gauge sector and in the crystalline sector of the symmetry group. We argue that random strain generally favors the charge-4e state over the nematic phase, as it acts as a random mass to the former but as a random field to the latter. Thus, we propose that two-dimensional inhomogeneous systems displaying nematic superconductivity, such as twisted bilayer graphene, provide a promising platform to realize the elusive charge-4e superconducting phase.
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U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.047001
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.047001
M3 - Article
C2 - 34355931
AN - SCOPUS:85111550537
SN - 0031-9007
VL - 127
JO - Physical review letters
JF - Physical review letters
IS - 4
M1 - 047001
ER -