Enhanced Superconductivity in Quasi-periodic Crystals

ORAL

Abstract

We study superconductivity in a family of one dimensional incommensurate system with s-wave pairing interaction. The incommensurate potential can alter the spatial characteristics of electrons in the normal state, leading to either extended, critical, or localized wave functions. We find that superconductivity is significantly enhanced when the electronic wave function exhibits a critical multifractal structure. This criticality also manifests itself in the power-law dependence of superconducting temperature on the pairing strength. As a consequence, an extended superconducting domain is expected to exist around the localization-delocalization transition, which can be induced by either tuning the amplitude of the incommensurate potential, or by varying the chemical potential across a mobility edge. Our results thus suggest a novel approach to enhance superconducting transition temperature through engineering of incommensurate potential.

*This work was carried out under the auspices of the U.S. DOE Award No. DE-AC52-06NA25396 through the LDRD program, and was supported by the Center for Nonlinear Studies at LANL.

Presenters

  • Shi-Zeng Lin

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • Los Alamos National Lab
    • Los Alamos Natl Lab
    • Theoretical Division, T-4, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Authors

  • Shi-Zeng Lin

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • Los Alamos National Lab
    • Los Alamos Natl Lab
    • Theoretical Division, T-4, Los Alamos National Laboratory
  • Zhijie Fan

    • University of Virginia
    • Univ of Virginia
  • Gia-Wei Chern

    • Univ of Virginia
    • University of Virginia