Prediction and description of a chiral pseudogap phase

TL;DR

This paper predicts a chiral pseudogap phase in systems with chiral superconductivity, characterized by broken time reversal symmetry without superconductivity, and discusses its physical properties and experimental signatures.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of a chiral pseudogap phase supported by phase-incoherent Cooper pairs with angular momentum, expanding understanding of chiral superconducting systems.

Findings

Chiral pseudogap phase exhibits finite magnetization.

It shows a non-quantized charge Hall effect.

Possesses protected edge states with quantized thermal Hall response.

Abstract

We point out that a system which supports chiral superconductivity should also support a chiral pseudogap phase: a finite temperature phase wherein superconductivity is lost but time reversal symmetry is still broken. This chiral pseudogap phase can be viewed as a state with phase incoherent Cooper pairs of a definite angular momentum. This physical picture suggests that the chiral pseudogap phase should have definite magnetization, should exhibit a (non-quantized) charge Hall effect, and should possess protected edge states that lead to a quantized thermal Hall response. We explain how these phenomena are realized in a Ginzburg-Landau description, and comment on the experimental signatures of the chiral pseudogap phase. We expect this work to be relevant for all systems that exhibit chiral superconductivity, including doped graphene and strontium ruthenate.