Evaluation of Spin-Triplet Superconductivity in Sr2RuO4

TL;DR

This review critically evaluates the superconducting properties of Sr2RuO4, focusing on spin-triplet pairing, recent experimental and theoretical progress, and its implications for topological superconductivity and future research directions.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive update on the evidence for spin-triplet pairing in Sr2RuO4 and discusses new phenomena related to topological aspects of its superconductivity.

Findings

Evidence supports spin-triplet, odd-parity pairing in Sr2RuO4.

Recent experiments reveal chiral edge states and half-fluxoid phenomena.

Theoretical models highlight the role of Coulomb repulsion in pairing mechanisms.

Abstract

This review presents a summary and evaluations of the superconducting properties of the layered ruthenate Sr2RuO4 as they are known in the autumn of 2011. This paper appends the main progress that has been made since the preceding review by Mackenzie and Maeno was published in 2003. Here, special focus is placed on the critical evaluation of the spin-triplet, odd-parity pairing scenario applied to Sr2RuO4. After an introduction to superconductors with possible odd-parity pairing, accumulated evidence for the pairing symmetry of Sr2RuO4 is examined. Then, significant recent progress on the theoretical approaches to the superconducting pairing by Coulomb repulsion is reviewed. A section is devoted to some experimental properties of Sr2RuO4 that seem to defy simple explanations in terms of currently available spin-triplet scenario. The next section deals with some new developments using eutectic boundaries and micro-crystals, which reveals novel superconducting phenomena related to chiral edge states, odd-frequency pairing states, and half-fluxoid states. Some of these properties are intimately connected with the properties as a topological superconductor. The article concludes with a summary of knowledge emerged from the study of Sr2RuO4 that are now more widely applied to understand the physics of other unconventional superconductors, as well as with a brief discussion of relatively unexplored but promising areas of ongoing and future studies of Sr2RuO4.