Field angle-dependent thermal conductivity in nodal superconuctors

TL;DR

This paper uses a semi-classical approach to analyze how the thermal conductivity in nodal superconductors varies with magnetic field angle, applying it to PrOs$_4$Sb$_{12}$ and identifying the likely node configurations.

Contribution

It introduces a semi-classical method to determine field angle-dependent thermal conductivity in nodal superconductors, specifically applied to PrOs$_4$Sb$_{12}$, revealing the most consistent node configuration.

Findings

Oscillatory thermal conductivity contributions are calculated for all point node configurations.

Experimental data best matches nodes in off-axis directions related to a specific triplet pairing phase.

The study supports a particular triplet pairing symmetry with time-reversal breaking in PrOs$_4$Sb$_{12}$.

Abstract

We apply a semi-classical method to the problem of field angle-dependent oscillations of the density of states and thermal conductivity for nodal superconductors and apply our results to the superconductor PrOs$_4$Sb$_{12}$. The oscillatory contributions to the thermal conductivity for all possible point node configurations for a superconductor with $T_h$ symmetry are calculated. It is found that experimental results are best accounted for by nodes in the off-axis directions $[\pm \sin\phi_0, 0, \pm\cos\phi_0]$, which are associated with the time-reversal breaking, triplet paired phase $D_2(E)$.