Theory of weak symmetry breaking of translations in $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topologically ordered states and its relation to topological superconductivity from an exact lattice $\mathbb{Z}_2$ charge-flux attachment
We study $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topologically ordered states enriched by translational symmetry by employing a recently developed 2D bosonization approach that implements an exact $\mathbb{Z}_2$ charge-flux attachment in the lattice. Such states can display `weak symmetry breaking' of translations, in which both the Hamiltonian and ground state remain fully translational invariant but the symmetry is `broken' by its anyon quasi-particles, in the sense that its action maps them into a different super-selection sector. We demonstrate that this phenomenon occurs when the fermionic spinons form a weak topological superconductor in the form of a 2D stack of 1D Kitaev wires, leading to the amusing property that there is no local operator that can transport the $π$-flux quasi-particle across a single Kitaev wire of fermonic spinons without paying an energy gap in spite of the vacuum remaining fully translational invariant. We explain why this phenomenon occurs hand-in-hand with other previously identified peculiar features such as ground state degeneracy dependence on the size of the torus and the appearance of dangling boundary Majorana modes in certain $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topologically ordered states. Moreover, by extending the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ charge-flux attachment to open lattices and cylinders, we construct a plethora of exactly solvable models providing an exact description of their dispersive Majorana gapless boundary modes. We also review the $\mathbb{Z}\times (\mathbb{Z}_2)^3$ classification of 2D BdG Hamiltonians (Class D) enriched by translational symmetry and provide arguments on its robust stability against interactions and self-averaging disorder that preserves translational symmetry.
We show that the presence of Majorana zero modes (2D), and chiral-dispersing Majorana modes (3D), in the vortex cores of superconductors are neither sufficient nor necessary conditions for one to conclude the superconductivity is topologically non-trivial. We discuss the relevance of this result to the proximity-induced superconductivity, in the presence of magnetic field, on the surface of topological insulators.
Majorana zero modes are a much sought-after consequence of one-dimensional topological superconductivity. Here, we show that, in turn, zero modes accompanying dynamical instanton events strongly enhance -- in some cases even enable -- superconductivity. We find that the dynamics of a one-dimensional topological triplet superconductor is governed by a $θ$ term in the action. For isotropic triplets, this term enables algebraic charge-$2e$ superconductivity, which is destroyed by fluctuations in nontopological superconductors. For anisotropic triplets, zero modes suppress quantum phase slips and …
A large number of half-Heusler compounds have been recently proposed as three-dimensional (3D) topological insulators (TIs) with tunable physical properties.However, no transport measurements associated with the topological surface states have been observed in these half-Heusler candidates due to the dominating contribution from bulk electrical conductance. Here we show that, by reducing the mobility of bulk carriers, a two-dimensional (2D) weak antilocalization (WAL) effect, one of the hallmarks of topological surface states, was experimentally revealed from the tilted magnetic field dependen…
Topological materials which are also superconducting are of great current interest, since they may exhibit a non-trivial topologically-mediated superconducting phase. Although there have been many reports of pressure-tuned or chemical-doping-induced superconductivity in a variety of topological materials, there have been few examples of intrinsic, ambient pressure superconductivity in a topological system having a stoichiometric composition. Here, we report that the pure intermetallic CaSn3 not only exhibits topological fermion properties but also has a superconducting phase at 1.178 K under a…
We analyze the possible interaction-induced superconducting instabilities in noncentrosymmetric systems based on symmetries of the normal state. It is proven that pure electron-phonon coupling will always lead to a fully gapped superconductor that does not break time-reversal symmetry and is topologically trivial. We show that topologically nontrivial behavior can be induced by magnetic doping without gapping out the resulting Kramers pair of Majorana edge modes. In case of superconductivity arising from the particle-hole fluctuations associated with a competing instability, the properties of …
Type-I superconductivity in a quasi-2D topologically nontrivial YbBi$_2$
Oak Ridge National Laboratory（橡树岭国家实验室）；Gdansk University of Technology（格但斯克理工大学）；National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory（洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室国家高磁场实验室）；AGH University of Krakow（克拉科夫AGH科技大学）
We show two-dimensional "strong" topological superconductivity in d-wave superconductors (SCs). Although the topological invariant of the bulk wave function cannot be defined in d_{x^2-y^2}-wave and d_{xy}-wave SCs because of nodal excitations, the bulk energy spectrum of d-wave SCs on a substrate is fully gapped in a magnetic field. Then the superconducting state is specified by a nontrivial Chern number, and hence topologically nontrivial properties are robust against disorders and interactions. We discuss high-temperature topological superconductivity in cuprate SCs recently fabricated on a…
Recently, in certain flat band lattice systems at commensurate fillings, fractional quantum Hall states have been found -- which have anyonic excitations. We study such systems away from commensuration, i.e. the ground state of an anyon gas in such a system. The presence of the underlying lattice allows access to an entirely new regime where the anyon kinetic energy can be larger than their interaction energy. Within the flux-attachment approach, using mean-field then adding fluctuations, we find several possible superfluid states. Two have intrinsic topological order, i.e. fractionalized quas…
We study a minimal Hubbard model for electronically driven superconductivity in a correlated flat mini-band resulting from the superlattice modulation of a twisted graphene multilayer. The valley degree of freedom drastically modifies the nature of thepreferred pairing states, favoring spin triplet $d+id$ order with a valley singlet structure. We identify two candidates in this class, which are both topological superconductors. These states support half-vortices carrying half the usual superconducting flux quantum $hc/(4e)$, and have topologically protected gapless edge states.
We propose a class of topological superconductivity in which the pairing order is $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topologically obstructed in a three-dimensional time-reversal invariant system. When two Fermi surfaces are related by time-reversal and mirror symmetries, such as those in a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ Dirac semimetal, the inter-Fermi-surface pairing in the weak-coupling regime inherits the band topological obstruction. As a result, the pairing order cannot be well-defined over the entire Fermi surface and forms a time-reversal invariant generalization of U($1$) monopole harmonic pairing. A tight-binding model…
We use the Chern-Simons (CS) fermion representation of s =1/2 spin operators to construct topological, long-range magnetically ordered states of interacting two-dimensional (2D) quantum spin models. We show that the fermion-fermion interactions mediated by the dynamic CS flux attachment may give rise to Cooper pairing of the fermions. Specifically, in an XY model on the honeycomb lattice, this construction leads to a "CS superconductor," which belongs to a topologically non-trivial in 2D symmetry class DIII, with particle-hole and time-reversal symmetries. It is shown that in the original spin…
The intense search for topological superconductivity is inspired by the prospect that it hosts Majorana quasiparticles. We explore in this work the optimal design for producing topological superconductivity by combining a quantum Hall state with an ordinary superconductor. To this end, we consider a microscopic model for a topologically trivial two-dimensional p-wave superconductor exposed to a magnetic field, and find that the interplay of superconductivity and Landau level physics yields a rich phase diagram of states as a function of $μ/t$ and $Δ/t$, where $μ$, $t$ and $Δ$ are the chemical …
The competition between Kitaev and Heisenberg interactions away from half filling is studied for the the hole-doped Kitaev-Heisenberg $t$-$J_K$-$J_H$ model on a honeycomb lattice. While the isotropic Heisenberg coupling supports a time-reversal violating d-wave singlet state, we find that the Kitaev interaction favors a time-reversal invariant p-wave superconducting phase, which obeys the rotational symmetries of the microscopic model, and is robust for $J_H<J_K/2$. Within the p-wave superconducting phase, a critical chemical potential $μ_c \approx t$ separates a topologically trivial phase fo…
We devise a new proximity junction configuration where an s-wave superconductivity and the superconductivity of Sr2RuO4 interfere with each other. We reproducibly observe in such a Pb/Ru/Sr2RuO4 junction with a single Pb electrode that the critical current Ic drops sharply just below the bulk Tc of Sr2RuO4 and furthermore increases again below a certain temperature below Tc. In order to explain this extraordinary temperature dependence of Ic, we propose a competition effect involving topologically distinct superconducting phases around Ru inclusions. Thus, such a device may be called a "topolo…
We predict that CaFeAs$_2$, a newly discovered iron-based high temperature (T$_c$) superconductor, is a staggered intercalation compound that integrates topological quantum spin hall (QSH) and superconductivity (SC). CaFeAs$_2$ has a structure with staggered CaAs and FeAs layers. While the FeAs layers are known to be responsible for high T$_c$ superconductivity, we show that with spin orbital coupling each CaAs layer is a $Z_{2}$ topologically nontrivial two-dimensional QSH insulator and the bulk is a 3-dimensional weak topological insulator. In the superconducting state, the edge states in th…
The capability to switch electrically between superconducting and insulating states of matter represents a novel paradigm in the state-of-the-art engineering of correlated electronic systems. An exciting possibility is to turn on superconductivity in a topologically non-trivial insulator, which provides a route to search for non-Abelian topological states. However, existing demonstrations of superconductor-insulator switches have involved only topologically trivial systems, and even those are rare due to the stringent requirement to tune the carrier density over a wide range. Here we report re…
Topological media are systems whose properties are protected by topology and thus are robust to deformations of the system. In topological insulators and superconductors the bulk-surface and bulk-vortex correspondence gives rise to the gapless Weyl, Dirac or Majorana fermions on the surface of the system and inside vortex cores. In gapless topological media, the bulk-surface and bulk-vortex correspondence produce topologically protected gapless fermions without dispersion - the flat band. Fermion zero modes forming the flat band are localized on the surface of topological media with protected …
Motivated by the recent numerical simulations for doped $t$-$J$ model on the honeycomb lattice, we study superconductivity of singlet and triplet pairing on the honeycomb lattice Hubbard model. We show that a superconducting state with coexisting spin-singlet and spin-triplet pairings is induced by the antiferromagnetic order near half filling. The superconducting state we obtain has a topological phase transition that separates a topologically trivial state and a nontrivial state with Chern number two. Possible experimental realization of such a topological superconductivity is also discussed…
We discuss the properties of topologically nontrivial superconducting phases and the conditions for their realization in condensed matter, and the principles for identifying Majorana bound states (MBSs). Along with the well-known Kitaev chain and superconducting nanowire (SW) models with spin-orbit coupling in an external magnetic field, we discuss models of quasi-2D materials in which MBSs are realized in the presence of noncollinear spin ordering. For finite-length SWs, we demonstrate a cascade of quantum transitions occurring with a change in the magnetic field, accompanied by a change in t…
Non-trivial topology and unconventional pairing are two central guiding principles in the contemporary search for and analysis of superconducting materials and heterostructure compounds. Previously, a topological superconductor has been predominantly conceived to result from a topologically non-trivial band subject to intrinsic or external superconducting proximity effect. Here, we propose a new class of topological superconductors which are uniquely induced by unconventional pairing. They exhibit a boundary-obstructed higher-order topological character and, depending on their dimensionality, …
Using a cryogenic scanning tunneling microscopy, we report the observation of topologically nontrivial superconductivity on a single material of β-Bi2Pd films grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The superconducting gap associated with spinless odd-parity pairing opens on the surface and appears much larger than the bulk one due to the Dirac-fermion enhanced parity mixing of surface pair potential. Majorana zero modes (MZMs), supported by such superconducting states, are identified at magnetic vortices. The superconductivity and MZMs exhibit resistance to nonmagnetic defects, characteristic of tim…
Topological nodal-line semimetals (TNLSMs) are materials whose conduction and valence bands cross each other, meeting a topologically-protected closed loop rather than discrete points in the Brillouin zone (BZ). The anticipated properties for TNLSMs include drumhead-like nearly flat surface states, unique Landau energy levels, special collective modes, long-range Coulomb interactions, or the possibility of realizing high-temperature superconductivity. Recently, SrAs3 has been theoretically proposed and then experimentally confirmed to be a TNLSM. Here, we report high-pressure experiments on Sr…
We propose a possible way to realize topological superconductivity with application of laser light to superconducting cuprate thin films. Applying Floquet theory to a model of $d$-wave superconductors with Rashba spin-orbit coupling, we derive an effective model and discuss its topological nature. Interplay of the Rashba spin-orbit coupling and the laser light effect induces the synthetic magnetic fields, thus making the system gapped. Then the system acquires the topologically non-trivial nature which is characterized by Chern numbers. The effective magnetic fields do not create the vortices …
We theoretically study superconductivity in UTe$_2$, which is a recently-discovered strong candidate for an odd-parity spin-triplet superconductor. Theoretical studies for this compound faced difficulty because first-principles calculations predict an insulating electronic state, incompatible with superconducting instability. To overcome this problem, we take into account electron correlation effects by a GGA$+U$ method and show the insulator-metal transition by Coulomb interaction. Using Fermi surfaces obtained as a function of $U$, we clarify topological properties of possible superconductin…
It has been recently shown that non-Abelian defects with localized parafermion zero modes can arise in conventional Abelian fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states. Here we propose an alternate route to creating, manipulating, and measuring topologically protected degeneracies in bilayer FQH states coupled to superconductors, without the creation of localized parafermion zero modes. We focus mainly on electron-hole bilayers, with a $\pm 1/3$ Laughlin FQH state in each layer, with boundaries that are proximity-coupled to a superconductor. We show that the superconductor induces charge $2e/3$ quasi…
We propose a mechanism for light-induced unconventional superconductivity in a two-valley semiconductor with a massive Dirac type band structure. The superconducting phase results from the out-of-equilibrium excitation of carriers in the presence of Coulomb repulsion and is stabilized by coupling the driven semiconductor to a bosonic or fermionic thermal bath. We consider a circularly-polarized light pump and show that by controlling the detuning of the pump frequency relative to the band gap, different types of chiral superconductivity would be induced. The emergence of novel superconducting …
We show that a doped spin-1/2 ladder with antiferromagnetic intra-chain and ferromagnetic inter-chain coupling is a symmetry protected topologically non-trivial Luttinger liquid. Turning on a large easy-plane spin anisotropy drives the system to a topologically-trivial Luttinger liquid. Both phases have full spin gaps and exhibit power-law superconducting pair correlation. The Cooper pair symmetry is singlet $d_{xy}$ in the non-trivial phase and triplet $S_z=0$ in the trivial phase. The topologically non-trivial Luttinger liquid exhibits gapless spin excitations in the presence of a boundary, …
Unconventional superconductivity is characterized by the spontaneous symmetry breaking of the macroscopic superconducting wavefunction in addition to the gauge symmetry breaking, such as rotational-symmetry breaking with respect to the underlying crystal-lattice symmetry. Particularly, superconductivity with spontaneous rotational-symmetry breaking in the wavefunction amplitude and thus in bulk properties, not yet reported previously, is intriguing and can be termed "nematic" superconductivity in analogy to nematic liquid-crystal phases. Here, based on specific-heat measurements of the single-…
We show that every even-denominator fractional quantum Hall (FQH) state possesses at least two robust, topologically distinct gapless edge phases if charge conservation is broken at the boundary by coupling to a superconductor. The new edge phase allows for the possibility of a direct coupling between electrons and emergent neutral fermions of the FQH state. This can potentially be experimentally probed through geometric resonances in the tunneling density of states at the edge, providing a probe of fractionalized, yet electrically neutral, bulk quasiparticles. Other measurable consequences in…
Motivated by the recent discoveries of superconductivity in bilayer and trilayer graphene, we theoretically investigate superconductivity and other interaction-driven phases in multilayer graphene stacks. To this end, we study the density of states of multilayer graphene with up to four layers at the single-particle band structure level in the presence of a transverse electric field. Among the considered structures, tetralayer graphene with rhombohedral (ABCA) stacking reaches the highest density of states. We study the phases that can arise in ABCA graphene by tuning the carrier density and t…
The surface of a 3D topological insulator is conducting and the topologically nontrivial nature of the surface states is observed in experiments. It is the aim of this paper to review and analyze experimental observations with respect to the magnetotransport in Bi-based 3D topological insulators, as well as the superconducting transport properties of hybrid structures consisting of superconductors and these topological insulators. The helical spin-momentum coupling of the surface state electrons becomes visible in quantum corrections to the conductivity and magnetoresistance oscillations. An a…
The entanglement of charge density wave (CDW), superconductivity, and topologically nontrivial electronic structure has recently been discovered in the kagome metal $A$V$_3$Sb$_5$ ($A$ = K, Rb, Cs) family. With high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we study the electronic properties of CDW and superconductivity in CsV$_3$Sb$_5$. The spectra around $\bar{K}$ is found to exhibit a peak-dip-hump structure associated with two separate branches of dispersion, demonstrating the isotropic CDW gap opening below $E_{\rm F}$. The peak-dip-hump lineshape is contributed by linearly di…
Current theories of superfluidity are based on the idea of a coherent quantum state with topologically protected, quantized circulation. When this topological protection is absent, as in the case of $^3$He-A, the coherent quantum state no longer supports persistent superflow. Here we argue that the loss of topological protection in a superconductor gives rise to an insulating ground state. We specifically introduce the concept of a Skyrme insulator to describe the coherent dielectric state that results from the topological failure of superflow carried by a complex vector order parameter. We ap…
At an interface between a topological insulator (TI) and a conventional superconductor (SC), superconductivity has been predicted to change dramatically and exhibit novel correlations. In particular, the induced superconductivity by an $s$-wave SC in a TI can develop an order parameter with a $p$-wave component. Here we present experimental evidence for an unexpected proximity-induced novel superconducting state in a thin layer of the prototypical TI, Bi$_2$Se$_3$, proximity coupled to Nb. From depth-resolved magnetic field measurements below the superconducting transition temperature of Nb, w…
Topological superconductors, whose edge hosts Majorana bound states or Majorana fermions that obey non-Abelian statistics, can be used for low-decoherence quantum computations. Most of the proposed topological superconductors are realized with spin-helical states through proximity effect to BCS superconductors. However, such approaches are difficult for further studies and applications because of the low transition temperatures and complicated hetero-structures. Here by using high-resolution spin-resolved and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, we discover that the iron-based supercondu…
Time-reversal symmetry breaking superconductors are exotic phases of matter with fascinating properties, which are, however, encountered rather sparsely. Here we identify the possibility of realizing such a superconducting ground state that exhibits an $f+is$ pairing symmetry in strained graphene. Although the underlying attractive interactions need to be sufficiently strong and comparable in pristine graphene to support such pairing state, we argue that strain can be conducive for its formation even for weak interactions. We show that quantum-critical behavior near the transition is controlle…
SnTe materials are one of the most flexible material platforms for exploring the interplay of topology and different types of symmetry breaking. We study symmetry-protected topological states in SnTe nanowires in the presence of various combinations of Zeeman field, s-wave superconductivity and inversion-symmetry-breaking field. We uncover the origin of robust corner states and hinge states in the normal state. In the presence of superconductivity, we find inversion-symmetry-protected gapless bulk Majorana modes, which give rise to quantized thermal conductance in ballistic wires. By introduci…
