Superconductivity on the density wave background with soliton-wall structure

TL;DR

This paper investigates how superconductivity coexists with density wave states featuring soliton-wall structures, revealing unique critical field behaviors and explaining experimental results in layered organic superconductors.

Contribution

It introduces a microscopic model of superconductivity on a density wave background with soliton-wall structures, highlighting distinctive properties of the upper critical field and its experimental relevance.

Findings

$H_{c2}$ significantly increases near the critical pressure.

$H_{c2}$ exceeds typical values without DW and shows upward curvature.

Model explains experimental observations in layered organic superconductors.

Abstract

Superconductivity (SC) may microscopically coexist with density wave (DW) when the nesting of the Fermi surface (FS) is not perfect. There are, at least, two possible microscopic structures of a DW state with quasi-particle states remaining on the Fermi level and leading to the Cooper instability: (i) the soliton-wall phase and (ii) the small ungapped Fermi-surface pockets. The dispersion of such quasi-particle states strongly differs from that without DW, and so do the properties of SC on the DW background. The upper critical field $H_{c2}$ in such a SC state strongly increases as the system approaches the critical pressure, where superconductivity first appears. $H_{c2}$ may considerably exceed its typical value without DW and has unusual upward curvature as function of temperature. The results obtained explain the experimental observations in layered organic superconductors (TMTSF)$_{2}$PF$_{6}$ and $\alpha $-(BEDT TTF)$_{2}$KHg(SCN)$_{4}$.