Thermal fluctuations and vortex lattice structures in chiral p-wave superconductors: Robustness of double-quanta vortices

Fredrik Nicolai Krohg (1, 2) , Egor Babaev (3) , Julien Garaud (4) , Håvard Homleid Haugen (1, 2) , Asle Sudbø (1, 2)

1 Physics NTNU - Department of Physics [Trondheim]
2 QuSpin - Center for Quantum Spintronics
3 Department of Physics [Stockholm]
4 IDP - Institut Denis Poisson

We use large-scale Monte-Carlo simulations to study thermal fluctuations in chiral $p$-wave superconductors in an applied magnetic field in three dimensions. We consider the thermal stability of previously predicted unusual double-quanta flux-line lattice ground states in such superconductors. In previous works it was shown that, neglecting thermal fluctuations, a chiral $p$-wave superconductor forms a hexagonal lattice of doubly-quantized vortices, except extremely close to the vicinity of $H_{c2}$ where double-quanta vortices split apart. We find dissociation of double-quanta vortices driven by thermal fluctuations. However, our calculations also show that the previous predictions of hexagonal doubly-quantized vortices, where thermal fluctuations were ignored, are very robust in the considered model.

Domaines: Supraconductivité [cond-mat.supr-con]

Fredrik Nicolai Krohg, Egor Babaev, Julien Garaud, Håvard Homleid Haugen, Asle Sudbø. Thermal fluctuations and vortex lattice structures in chiral p-wave superconductors: Robustness of double-quanta vortices. Physical Review B, 2021, 103 (21), pp.214517. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevB.103.214517⟩. ⟨hal-03269957⟩