Electronic structure of non-centrosymmetric superconductor LaPdSi3 and its reference compound LaPdGe3

TL;DR

This study compares the electronic structures of LaPdSi3 and LaPdGe3, revealing how differences in Fermi surface nesting and spin-orbit coupling influence their superconducting properties.

Contribution

It provides a detailed theoretical analysis of the electronic structures and Fermi surfaces of LaPdSi3 and LaPdGe3, highlighting the role of nesting and spin-orbit effects in superconductivity.

Findings

LaPdSi3 exhibits pronounced Fermi surface nesting.

LaPdGe3 lacks significant nesting, correlating with its non-superconducting nature.

Spin-orbit coupling influences band structures similarly in both compounds.

Abstract

Electronic structures of a superconductor without inversion symmetry, LaPdSi3, and its non-superconducting counterpart, LaPdGe3, have been calculated employing the full-potential local-orbital method within the density functional theory. The investigations were focused on analyses of densities of states at the Fermi level in comparison with previous experimental heat capacity data and an influence of the antisymmetric spin-orbit coupling on the band structures and Fermi surfaces (FSs) being very similar for both considered here compounds. Their FSs sheets originate from four bands and have a holelike character, but exhibiting pronounced nesting features only for superconducting LaPdSi3. It may explain a relatively strong electron-phonon coupling in the latter system and its lack in non-superconducting LaPdGe3.