Topological crystalline superconductivity and second-order topological superconductivity in nodal-loop materials

Hassan Shapourian, Yuxuan Wang, and Shinsei Ryu
Phys. Rev. B 97, 094508 – Published 14 March 2018

Abstract

We study the intrinsic fully gapped odd-parity superconducting order in doped nodal-loop materials with a torus-shaped Fermi surface. We show that the mirror symmetry, which protects the nodal loop in the normal state, also protects the superconducting state as a topological crystalline superconductor. As a result, the surfaces preserving the mirror symmetry host gapless Majorana cones. Moreover, for a Weyl-loop system (twofold degenerate at the nodal loop), the surfaces that break the mirror symmetry (those parallel to the bulk nodal loop) contribute a Chern (winding) number to the quasi-two-dimensional system in a slab geometry, which leads to a quantized thermal Hall effect and a single Majorana zero mode bound at a vortex line penetrating the system. This Chern number can be viewed as a higher-order topological invariant, which supports hinge modes in a cubic sample when mirror symmetry is broken. For a Dirac-loop system (fourfold degenerate at the nodal loop), the fully gapped odd-parity state can be either time-reversal symmetry-breaking or symmetric, similar to the A and B phases of He3. In a slab geometry, the A phase has a Chern number two, while the B phase carries a nontrivial Z2 invariant. We discuss the experimental relevance of our results to nodal-loop materials such as CaAgAs.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
2 More
  • Received 21 November 2017
  • Revised 21 February 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.97.094508

©2018 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Hassan Shapourian1, Yuxuan Wang2,*, and Shinsei Ryu1

  • 1James Franck Institute and Kadanoff Center for Theoretical Physics, University of Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
  • 2Department of Physics and Institute for Condensed Matter Theory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA

  • *yxwang@illinois.edu

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 97, Iss. 9 — 1 March 2018

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
CHORUS

Article Available via CHORUS

Download Accepted Manuscript
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review B

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×