Evolution of Interorbital Superconductor to Intraorbital Spin-Density Wave in Layered Ruthenates

TL;DR

This paper investigates the microscopic mechanisms behind the coexistence and evolution of superconductivity and spin-density wave order in layered ruthenates, highlighting the roles of bilayer coupling and oxygen octahedral rotations.

Contribution

It unifies superconducting and spin-density wave phenomena in ruthenates by analyzing the effects of bilayer coupling and structural distortions on electronic orders.

Findings

Bilayer coupling enhances superconductivity in Sr$_2$RuO$_4$.

Staggered rotations suppress interorbital superconductivity.

Magnetic field induces intraorbital SDW order via van Hove singularities.

Abstract

The ruthenate family of layered perovskites has been a topic of intense interest with much work dedicated to understanding the superconducting state of the single layer, Sr$_2$RuO$_4$. Another longstanding puzzle is the lack of superconductivity in its sister compound, Sr$_3$Ru$_2$O$_7$, which constrains the possible superconducting mechanisms of Sr$_2$RuO$_4$. Here we address a microscopic mechanism that unifies superconducting and spin-density wave order in this family of materials. Beginning from a model of Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ featuring intraband pseudospin-singlet superconductivity originating from interorbital spin-triplet pairing via Hund's and spin-orbit couplings, the addition of bilayer coupling and staggered rotations of the oxygen octahedra are investigated. We find that the bilayer coupling alone enhances superconductivity, while staggered rotations destroy interorbital superconductivity, leaving a paramagnetic metal. The magnetic field then shifts van Hove singularities near the Fermi level, allowing intraorbital SDW order to form in the bilayer. Our theory predicts that bilayer Sr$_3$Ru$_2$O$_7$ without staggered rotations exhibits interorbital superconductivity with a possibly higher transition temperature.