Topological incommensurate Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov superconductor and Bogoliubov Fermi surface in rhombohedral tetra-layer graphene

TL;DR

This paper investigates unconventional superconductivity in rhombohedral tetra-layer graphene, revealing incommensurate FFLO phases, topological transitions, and Bogoliubov Fermi surfaces through detailed RPA calculations.

Contribution

It introduces the first detailed RPA study of chiral superconductivity and incommensurate FFLO phases in rhombohedral tetra-layer graphene, including realistic band structure effects.

Findings

Identification of p-ip pairing with Chern number switching at VHS

Discovery of Bogoliubov Fermi surface near $T_c$

Prediction of finite Cooper pair momentum $ extbf Q$ up to 0.1 $k_F$

Abstract

We performed a random phase approximation (RPA) calculation for a spin-valley polarized model of the rhombohedral tetra-layer graphene to study the possibility of chiral superconductor from the Kohn-Luttinger mechanism. We included the realistic band structure and form factor in our calculation and solved the self-consistent equation numerically by sampling 20,000 points in the momentum space at a given temperature. Around the Van-Hove singularity (VHS), we find p-ip pairing with Chern number switching from $C=-1$ to $C=0$ through a gap closing at $\mathbf k=(0,0)$ (defined relative to $\mathbf K$). Although the superconductor is generically fully gapped at low temperature, we find Bogoliubov Fermi surface at temperature just below mean field $T_c$. Besides, through calculation of the free energy, we conclude that the optimal Cooper pair momentum $\mathbf Q$ is generically finite and can be as large as $0.1 k_F$. We dub the $\mathbf Q\neq 0$ phase as an incommensurate Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov(FFLO) superconductor to distinguish it from the $\mathbf Q=0$ phase. Compared to the $\mathbf Q=0$ phase, our incommensurate $\mathbf Q$ phase is a nematic superconductor if it is in the Fulde-Ferrell(FF) phase or exhibts charge density wave (CDW) if it is in the Larkin-Ovchinnikov (LO) phase. Our work demonstrates the rhombohedral tetra-layer graphene as a wonderful platform to explore Majorana zero-mode, FFLO physics and Bogoliubov fermi surface within one single platform.