Abstract
All superconductors in a magnetic field are characterized by three critical magnetic fields: lower critical , upper critical and thermodynamic critical field . Only two sets of inequalities or are possible in a single-component superconductor. Here, we report our study of the critical fields in multicomponent superconductors with two superconducting components in the framework of the Ginzburg-Landau functional. We derive the relationship between the phases of the components of the superconducting complex order parameter from the charge conservation law in explicit form and insert it into the Ginzburg-Landau functional. Using the modified Ginzburg-Landau equation, we acquire the single vortex state including the analytical expression for asymptotics. Also, we obtain the analytical form for the state in the upper critical field. We find that in some cases an unusual sequence of critical fields can be realized in multicomponent superconductors.
Keywords: Multiband superconductors, Magnetic critical field
Introduction
The lower critical magnetic field together with the upper critical field and the thermodynamic critical field are the fundamental characteristics of superconductors, which describe the thermodynamics of a superconductor in an external magnetic field [1–4]. For one-component superconductors only two cases are possible: or . The superconductors, in which the first inequality is satisfied, are called superconductors of the first kind. Correspondingly, if the second inequality is satisfied, superconductors are of the second kind. Recently, it was found that many superconductors such as Fe-based superconductors [5–8], MgB2 [9–13], Sr2RuO4 [14, 15], heavy fermion superconductors [16, 17], superconductivity at the interface between LaAlO3 and SrTiO3 [18] can not be described by a single-component order parameter. In this connection, a natural question arises, whether these two sequences of the inequalities exhaust all the possibilities in the case of multicomponent superconductors. This article aims to fill this gap.
Here, we show that a different sequence of critical magnetic fields can also be realized in a multicomponent superconductor. We use the conditional variation of the Ginzburg-Landau functional, i.e., the variation under the constraint proposed in [19]. In the presence of topological defects and some other cases, e.g., calculation of , the conditions cannot be used for the derivation of a closed system of equations. Therefore the continuity equation , which follows from the gradient in-variance of the Ginzburg-Landau functional, is used as an independent equation [20]. Resolving the continuity equation one gets a relation between [20]. As a result only phase differences can be considered as independent variables with one restriction mentioned above.
In this article, we imply the proposed scheme for a two-component superconductor. It allows to set up a closed system of equations for a state with a single vortex. For this state, we find analytically the asymptomatic behavior of the solutions at short and long distances from the vortex core and numerically at intermediate distances. We also obtain with the perturbation theory the equations for for the two-component superconductor and compare the critical magnetic fields.
The Functional
We start with a Ginzburg-Landau (GL) functional of a two-component superconductor in the form, in which the kinetic energy term is positively defined and diagonalized:
| 1 |
Here are diagonal matrices:
| 2 |
and are the Euler rotation matrices:
| 3 |
with free parameters in the GL functional and wave functions
| 4 |
A multi-component superconductor may possess a phase shift between the components of the order parameter, which is different from already in a zero external magnetic field. In a such superconductor, the time-reversal symmetry is broken. Superconductors of this kind will be referred to in the text as superconductors with broken time-reversal symmetry (BTRS) or BTRS superconductors (for classification of classes of superconductors see [17, 21]). Both of the cases, with time-reversal symmetry and with broken time-reversal symmetry can be described in the framework of the Ginzburg-Landau functional. For considering below a two-component superconductor it means that two modulus of the order parameters, phase difference, and the vector potential can be considered as independent variables. Variation of the Ginzburg-Landau functional in these variables leads to a set of four differential equations. The solution of these equations gives the state of the superconductor in an external magnetic field.
Since the system with a single vortex is a rotational invariant, it is convenient to use the cylindrical system of coordinates (). Then, we take the components of the wave function in the form:
| 5 |
where is the polar angle and are functions depending on . From Eq. (5) one gets
| 6 |
where
| 7 |
The current density in the single vortex state is
| 8 |
From the symmetry considerations, the radial part of the current vanishes. Hence, from Eq. (8), we get
| 9 |
To resolve Eq. (9), we introduce a new function :
| 10 |
with being a solution of
| 11 |
Here, we would like to note that the equations obtained by variations of the functional over cannot be used as independent equations to determine anymore due to the above constraint. Resoling Eq. (11), we get
| 12 |
These equations are the key point of the solution to the problem under consideration. Now, we can rewrite the functional Eq. (1) in the form:
| 13 |
If Eqs. (9, 10 and 11) are satisfied, minimization of functional produces for functions four equations. Minimizing the functional Eq. (13), we find the equations for :
| 14 |
and
| 15 |
where
| 16 |
Further, variation of with respect to gives
| 17 |
The gauge is determined by the Maxwell equation for the vector potential :
| 18 |
and the boundary conditions. At vector potential tends to
| 19 |
As a result, we obtain the following quantization rule for one flux:
| 20 |
where is the flux quantum. The effective penetration depth is
| 21 |
Using Eq. (20), we can obtain the next expression for the first magnetic critical field .
| 22 |
Here are the density of the condensate energy in the ground state and in the state with a single vortex:
| 23 |
and
| 24 |
where the functions are the values of the correspondent functions in the ground state.
In the dimensionless variables, we obtain (see Appendix A):
| 25 |
The results of the numerical calculations of the first and second critical magnetic fields and also the thermodynamic critical field are given in Table 1. Note, that dependence of from is weak. An increase of leads to the evolution of the superconductivity so that and cross with the formation of a nontrivial transition region.
Table 1.
Resulting values of the expansion at for , , and and the critical magnetic fields , and
| 0.502624 | 0.381376 | 0.178348 | 0.356697 | 0.381862 | 0.31753 | 0.36464 | ||
| 0.500653 | 0.390095 | 0.179133 | 0.358285 | 0.383238 | 0.318328 | 0.354247 | ||
| 0.491193 | 0.406449 | 0.179380 | 0.359888 | 0.385749 | 0.317728 | 0.325411 | ||
| 0.468440 | 0.416228 | 0.178354 | 0.356357 | 0.386459 | 0.311181 | 0.284332 |
The ground state without vortices can be of two types. The first type is with preserved time-reversal symmetry . The second type is the state with broken time-reversal symmetry, which has the solution with . The first case is trivial. In the second case a separate point can exist (see Fig. 2). Below this point in the single vortex solution, depend on , but . As a result Eqs. (13, 14, 16 and 18) shrink to three equations for as in the case with preserved time-reversal symmetry.
Fig. 2.
Two possible dependencies of . More details see in the text
Solving the set of equations, one gets the asymptotics:
| 26 |
where H(0) is the value of the magnetic field at the center of the vortex core. The functions are proportional to at the distances smaller than the correlation length and approaches with an exponential decay to a constant at large . Qualitative -dependence of , and are presented in Fig. 1a and b.
Fig. 1.
Schematic -dependence of and
Using Eq. (17) one can estimate the value of parameter :
| 27 |
The value of the slope is a free parameter. Its value is fixed by the boundary conditions at infinity. As a result, we get a weak singularity in the functions since the functions themselves and their first derivatives continue at this point.
At large subspace of the intrinsic parameters, the value of is located in the nonphysical region (). The intrinsic parameters, used by us for numerical calculations belong to such subspace. The simplest situation for calculations arises for . In such case the solution of Eq. (17) is
| 28 |
For parameters:
| 29 |
and
the dependencies , and for and are given in Fig. 2a. For the numerical calculations, we have used dimensionless equations. The details of the numerical calculations are presented in Appendices A-G.
From Eqs. (13-15), we obtain the next values of at in the state with broken time-reversal symmetry:
| 30 |
and
| 31 |
| 32 |
The considered state corresponds to the minima of the free energy functional provided the following inequality is satisfied:
Obviously, for this case, Eqs. (30)-(32) give a single solution and, therefore, they describe the global minimum.
In this case, the vector potential decays exponentially at infinity as , where the parameter is given by the Eq. (21). The three quantity of the difference of the correspondent values from that at decay exponentially at large distances as well:
| 33 |
where the with are some coefficients, while and are eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the next system:
| 34 |
Here is a Hermitian operator with the following elements:
| 35 |
By the correct boundary conditions, the solution at large distances tends to the that given by Eq. (33). The correspondent free parameters for Eqs. (14, 15 and 18) are the slopes at of , and . For at the initial condition is if does not exists, and Eq. (27) otherwise. At this point, we note that at large distance , and decay with the same exponent due to the coupling between the components.
Critical Field
At the critical point the order parameters can be found with the following Ansatz:
| 36 |
where is the solution of the equation [1]:
| 37 |
and and are constants. The solution of Eq. (37) is
| 38 |
with and being a free parameter.
For , we obtain the following quadratic equation
| 39 |
Solving these equations, we get :
| 40 |
The numerical results are
| 41 |
and
| 42 |
| 43 |
In both cases, we obtain that the critical fields and are larger than the thermodynamic . Hence, the transition to the vortex state takes place at the external field equal . However, the transition to the homogeneous case happens at as a transition of the first order accompanied by a jump in the magnetic moment value. In the region a cascade of transitions with change of the structure of the vortex state is possible [22].
Conclusions
We considered a single vortex state and the first critical magnetic field in a multicomponent superconductor with N components in the framework of the Ginzburg-Landau functional. It has been shown that the problem can be reduced to solving a system of ordinary differential equations if in the ground state, the phase shift between the component of the complex order parameter is 0 or at zero external magnetic field. Otherwise, it consists of 2N equations. At the phase difference between the components of the order parameter does not tend to . And the can reach the values only at finite and for the solution is realized (see Fig. 2).
In a single-component superconductor in a magnetic field, the state is determined by the Ginzburg-Landau parameter . (The introduced by Ginzburg and Landau in the original work is ). In the approximation of the Ginzburg-Landau functional, is temperature independent. For all three critical fields , and coincide. Multi-component superconductors may show much more broad spectrum of states in an external magnetic field. Magnetic fields and are quite easy to calculate. However, in order to identify the state in an external magnetic field, we need to find also . As a result, in addition to the unusual sequence of the critical fields, the possibility of overscreening can be realized. In this case, it becomes possible for the jump-like transition between different solutions of the Abrikosov lattices. The calculation of the critical field is again given by the solution of the set of Eqs. (69-74) which explicitly take into account the relation between the phases and , which is imposed by the equation . Instead of one singular point existing in single-component superconductors, in a multicomponent superconductor in any case four parameters (,,) form basis for criterion set of singular “surfaces.” Investigation of physical states with parameters close to this set present special large interest and can be made inside presented method.
Acknowledgements
Yu.O. thanks Prof. Dr. Jeroen van den Brink for hospitality in IFW and DFG for financial support through the Mercator Professor Fellowship (grant number BR4060/5-1). D.E. thanks VW Foundation for the partial financial support and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Unions Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement No 647276 - MARS - ERC-2014-CoG) and DFG (grant No 405940956, 449494427).
Appendix A: Dimensionless Form of the Equations
For numerical calculations it is convenient to bring the equations to a dimensionless form. For these purposes, we use the following substitutions:
Here and are values of and at . They can be obtained from Eqs. (30-32):
| 44 |
| 45 |
and
| 46 |
Then, Eqs. (14, 15) take the following form:
| 47 |
and
| 48 |
Here is:
| 49 |
The Maxwell equation in the dimensionless variable has the following form:
| 50 |
The equation for is
| 51 |
The magnetic field H is equal to
Appendix B: Approximation in the Range .
In the range the functions , are odd functions of , while the function is an even function of . They can be expanded in this range as:
| 52 |
| 53 |
The coefficients can be found from the boundary conditions at see Eqs. (44-46). Inserting the expansions Eqs. (52 and 53) into Eqs. (47-51) we obtain the next expression for the coefficients , :
Correspondingly, we get the following set of equations for the expansion coefficients from Eq. (47):
| 54 |
and
| 55 |
and from Eq. (48):
| 56 |
and
| 57 |
Further, the Maxwell equation gives the following set of equations:
| 58 |
and
| 59 |
And the equation for yields:
| 60 |
| 61 |
Appendix C. Numerical Solution at .
For parameter values, given by Eq. (28), we obtain the next values for quantities .
| 62 |
| 63 |
| 64 |
Further, for the numerical calculations, we will use
| 65 |
Appendix D. Numerical Solution for
In the range of parameter , we have the following asymptotic behavior of and :
| 66 |
and
with
For , we get . The asymptotics for and have the form:
| 67 |
| 68 |
with , . Here quantities are some constants, which can be found by solving the full set of the differential equations. In the range , we obtain from Eqs. (58-61).
| 69 |
| 70 |
| 71 |
| 72 |
| 73 |
| 74 |
For small the function can be presented in the form with . So, for Eq. (A.8) in the first order of perturbation theory over can be presented in the form:
| 75 |
Corrections to quantities are of the second order by . Hence, in the leading approximation, we can use the values of function at the point .
Appendix E. Numerical Solution of the Eqs.
It is follows from Eq. (46) the point is singular. It this point . As the result the equation system from four equations Eqs. (47-50) reduces to the system of three equations. The solution of its has a special interest, since the solution is more simple in such case and can be easy spread on a large region over . Solving Eqs. (44-46) on estimates the four parameters . Their values are presented in the table.
At , we have the next equation for
| 76 |
| 77 |
| 78 |
From the numerical solution, we find the coefficients R, and in asymptotics presented by Eqs. (66-68):
| 79 |
Appendix F. Small Values, Correction to the Phase Difference
We obtain the next equation for the function in the region .
| 80 |
where
| 81 |
Numerical calculations for give
| 82 |
For , we have the following asymptotic . The phase difference in full range of for is presented at Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Normalized magnetic field , phase , and wave functions . as function of . The parameters are ,
Appendix G. Case
Consider now the case of . Parameters are free parameters and for quantities , we obtain from Eqs. (52-57) in the region the following values:
At the variable tends to and .
For , we obtain the following system of differential equations for quantities :
| 83 |
| 84 |
| 85 |
| 86 |
where
| 87 |
and
At at large distances , we get the following asymptotic expression for the magnetic field:
| 88 |
In both numerical investigated cases, the superconductor turns out unusual state. The value of and are larger that .
The three correlation length can be estimated from the system of equations Eqs. (84-86):
| 89 |
The solution of the Eqs. (89) is
| 90 |
The numerical calculations of Eqs. (83-85) yields the following asymptotic expression for :
| 91 |
Funding
Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.
Footnotes
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
References
- 1.Abrikosov, A.: Soviet Phys.–JETP. 5, 1174 (1957)
- 2.de Gennes, P.-G.: Superconductivity of metals and alloys (advanced book program) (Perseus Books, 1999)
- 3.Ovchinnikov Y. J. Exp. Theor. Phys. 2001;92:858. doi: 10.1134/1.1378179. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
- 4.Ginzburg, V.: Soviet Phys. – JETP 7, 78 (1958), ISSN 0038-5646
- 5.Kamihara Y, Watanabe T, Hirano M, Hosono H. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008;130:3296. doi: 10.1021/ja800073m. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 6.Hosono, H., Tanabe, K., Takayama-Muromachi, E., Kageyama, H., Yamanaka, S., Kumakura, H., Nohara, M., Hiramatsu, H., Fujitsu, S.: Sci. Technol. Adv. Mater. 16, 033503 (2015) 1505.02240 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- 7.Johnston DC. Adv. Phys. 2010;59:803. doi: 10.1080/00018732.2010.513480. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
- 8.Yerin Y, Drechsler S-L, Fuchs G. J. Low Temp. Phys. 2013;173:247. doi: 10.1007/s10909-013-0903-9. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
- 9.Nagamatsu J, Nakagawa N, Muranaka T, Zenitani Y. J. Akimitsu. 2001;410:63. doi: 10.1038/35065039. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 10.Nicol, E., Carbotte, J.: Phys. Rev. B 71 (2005)
- 11.Gurevich, A.: Phys Rev. B 67 (2003)
- 12.Gurevich A. Physica C: Superconductivity. 2007;456:160. doi: 10.1016/j.physc.2007.01.008. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
- 13.Askerzade, I.N.: Physics-Uspekhi 49, 1003 (2006) 10.1070/PU2006v049n10ABEH006055 [DOI]
- 14.Ishida, K., Mukuda, H., Kitaoka, Y., Asayama, K., Mao, Z.Q., Mori, Y., Maeno, Y.: Nature 396, 658 (1998) ISSN 1476-4687, 10.1038/25315 [DOI]
- 15.Mackenzie, A.P., Maeno, Y.: Rev. Mod. Phys. 75, 657 (2003) https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/RevModPhys.75.657
- 16.Pfleiderer, C.: Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 1551 (2009) https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/RevModPhys.81.1551
- 17.Sigrist, M., Ueda, K.: Rev. Mod. Phys. 63, 239 (1991) https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/RevModPhys.63.239
- 18.Edge J, Balatsky A. J. Supercond. Novel Magn. 2015;28:2373. doi: 10.1007/s10948-015-3052-3. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
- 19.Ovchinnikov YN. J. Supercond. Nov. Magn. 2018;31:3855. doi: 10.1007/s10948-018-4663-2. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 20.Ovchinnikov, Y.N., Efremov, D.V.: Phys. Rev. B 99, 224508 (2019) https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.99.224508
- 21.Volovik G, Gorkov L. Soviet. Phys. - JETP. 1985;88:1412. [Google Scholar]
- 22.Ovchinnikov YN. J. Exp. Theor. Phys. 2013;117:480. doi: 10.1134/S1063776113110046. [DOI] [Google Scholar]



