Zero-Field Surface Charge Due to the Gap Suppression in $d$-Wave Superconductors

TL;DR

This study reveals that in $d$-wave superconductors, surface charge redistribution occurs due to pair potential gradients and density of states pressure, independent of supercurrents, with effects depending on Fermi surface curvature.

Contribution

It introduces a microscopic analysis of surface charge in $d$-wave superconductors, highlighting mechanisms beyond the magnetic Hall effect and emphasizing the role of Fermi surface properties.

Findings

Surface charge is induced without supercurrents.

SDOS pressure dominates over PPG force in charge redistribution.

Surface charge sign and magnitude depend on Fermi-surface curvature.

Abstract

We perform a microscopic study on the redistribution of electric charge near the surface of a model $d$-wave superconductor cut along the [110] direction, with a Fermi surface appropriate for cuprate superconductors, using the augmented quasiclassical equations. We identify two possible mechanisms for the redistribution of charged particles different from the well-known magnetic Hall effect, namely; the pair potential gradient (PPG) force due to surface effects on the pair potential and the pressure difference between the normal and superconducting regions arising from the slope of the density of states (SDOS) in the normal states at the Fermi level. Our present results show that in spite of the absence of supercurrents, electric charge is induced around the surface. Moreover, the charging effect due to the SDOS pressure dominates over that due to the PPG force for all the realistic electron-fillings $n=0.8$, $0.9$, and $1.15$, at all temperatures. In addition, for the filling $n=1.15$, the PPG force and the SDOS pressure contributions have the same negative signs, which gives a larger total surface charge i.e., both the sign and amount of the surface charge depends greatly on the Fermi-surface curvature. We have also calculated the local density of states (LDOS) within the augmented quasiclassical theory. Spatially varying local particle-hole asymmetry appears in the LDOS, which suggests the presence of electric charge.