Superconductivity and spin-orbit coupling in non-centrosymmetric materials: a review

TL;DR

This review discusses how the lack of inversion symmetry in certain superconductors leads to antisymmetric spin-orbit coupling, resulting in mixed pairing states and novel phenomena, supported by both experimental and theoretical insights.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the effects of antisymmetric spin-orbit coupling in non-centrosymmetric superconductors, highlighting recent experimental and theoretical developments.

Findings

ASOC causes mixed singlet-triplet pairing

Evidence of unconventional superconducting behaviors

Potential for topological superconductivity

Abstract

In non-centrosymmetric superconductors, where the crystal structure lacks a centre of inversion, parity is no longer a good quantum number and an electronic antisymmetric spin-orbit coupling (ASOC) is allowed to exist by symmetry. If this ASOC is sufficiently large, it has profound consequences on the superconducting state. For example, it generally leads to a superconducting pairing state which is a mixture of spin-singlet and spin-triplet components. The possibility of such novel pairing states, as well as the potential for observing a variety of unusual behaviours, led to intensive theoretical and experimental investigations. Here we review the experimental and theoretical results for superconducting systems lacking inversion symmetry. Firstly we give a conceptual overview of the key theoretical results. We then review the experimental properties of both strongly and weakly correlated bulk materials, as well as two dimensional systems. Here the focus is on evaluating the effect of ASOC on the superconducting properties and the extent to which there is evidence for singlet-triplet mixing. This is followed by a more detailed overview of theoretical aspects of non-centrosymmetric superconductivity. This includes the effects of the ASOC on the pairing symmetry and the superconducting magnetic response, magneto-electric effects, superconducting finite momentum pairing states, and the potential of non-centrosymmetric superconductors to display topological superconductivity.