Transverse acousto-electric effect in superconductors

TL;DR

This paper develops a theoretical framework using TDGL and vortex dynamics to analyze the transverse acousto-electric response in type-II superconductors with vortex lattices, revealing a magnetic field-dependent electric field with weak temperature dependence.

Contribution

It introduces a novel adaptation of the TDGL theory for non-equilibrium conditions to study acousto-electric effects in superconductors with vortex lattices.

Findings

Electric field peaks below upper critical magnetic field

Weak temperature dependence of the electric field peak

Impurities suppress the acousto-electric response

Abstract

We formulate a theory based on the time-dependent Ginzburg Landau (TDGL) theory and Newtonian vortex dynamics to study the transverse acousto-electric response of a type-II superconductor with Abrikosov vortex lattice. When exposed to a transverse acoustic wave, Cooper pairs emerge from the the moving atomic lattice and moving electrons. As in the Tolman-Stewart effect in a normal metal, an electromagnetic field is radiated from the superconductor. We adapt the equilibrium-based TDGL theory to this non-equilibrium system by using a floating condensation kernel. Due to the interaction between normal and superconducting components, the radiated electric field as a function of magnetic field attains a maximum value occurring below the upper critical magnetic field. This local increase in electric field has weak temperature dependence and is suppressed by the presence of impurities in the superconductor.