Internal Transition of Superconducting State by Impurity Doping with a Jump of Isotope-effect Coefficient in Multiband Superconductors

TL;DR

This paper investigates how impurity doping causes internal transitions in the superconducting state of multiband superconductors, leading to abrupt changes in the isotope-effect coefficient, with implications for materials like Sr2RuO4.

Contribution

It introduces a mechanism for impurity-induced internal transitions in multiband superconductors and derives extended AG equations accounting for Coulomb repulsion effects.

Findings

Impurity doping induces internal transitions in superconducting states.

Transition is accompanied by a jump in the isotope-effect coefficient.

The mechanism may explain experimental observations in Sr2RuO4.

Abstract

The impurity effects on the transition temperature Tc and the isotope effect are examined in multiband superconductors with magnetic and nonmagnetic impurities, where the effect of Coulomb repulsion is considered. It is shown that an internal transition of the superconducting state is induced by impurity doping, and that the transition is accompanied by a jump of the isotope-effect coefficient alpha. In particular, the transition is illustrated in a system with two electron bands. In some special cases, extended Abrikosov and Gor'kov (AG) equations for Tc and the expressions of the isotope-effect coefficient alpha are obtained. Possible relevance of the present mechanism to the experimental results of Sr2RuO4 is discussed.