Trigonal warping enables linear optical spectroscopy in single-valley superconductors

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that trigonal warping in single-valley superconductors makes otherwise optically dark collective modes and quasiparticle gaps visible in optical responses, enabling new spectroscopic studies.

Contribution

It reveals how trigonal warping allows optical detection of collective modes in single-valley superconductors, which was previously forbidden by symmetry.

Findings

Trigonal warping makes collective modes optically active.

Optical responses can reveal quasiparticle gaps in these materials.

Rhombohedral graphene multilayers are promising platforms.

Abstract

In superconductors with multiple pairing channels, Bardasis-Schrieffer modes and clapping modes arise as fluctuations in channels whose angular momenta differ from that of the pair condensate. Crystal symmetries often impose selection rules which keep these modes optically dark. We show that if pairing occurs around a single Fermi surface, trigonal warping renders both of these modes, as well as the quasiparticle excitation gap, visible in the longitudinal and Hall optical responses. Our results suggest that rhombohedral graphene multilayers, which are believed to host the required ingredients, might offer an ideal setting for the study of exotic superconducting collective modes.