Vortex states in mesoscopic three-band superconductors

TL;DR

This paper uses multi-component Ginzburg-Landau simulations to explore various vortex states in mesoscopic three-band superconductors, revealing stabilized chiral states, split-core vortices, and fractional vortex states with broken symmetries.

Contribution

It introduces the first detailed simulation-based analysis of vortex states in mesoscopic three-band superconductors, highlighting the stabilization of chiral and fractional vortex configurations.

Findings

Mesoscopic confinement stabilizes chiral states.

Identification of split-core vortices with non-coincident vortex cores.

Discovery of fractional vortex states with broken time-reversal symmetry.

Abstract

Using multi-component Ginzburg-Landau simulations, we show a plethora of vortex states possible in mesoscopic three-band superconductors. We find that mesoscopic confinement stabilizes chiral states, with non-trivial phase differences between the band-condensates, as the ground state of the system. As a consequence, we report the broken-symmetry vortex states, the chiral states where vortex cores in different band condensates do not coincide (split-core vortices), as well as fractional vortex states with broken time-reversal symmetry.