Necklacelike Pattern of Vortex Bound States
A vortex is a topological defect in the superconducting condensate when a magnetic field is applied to a type-II superconductor, as elucidated by the Ginzburg-Landau theory. Because of the confinement of the quasiparticles by a vortex, it exhibits a circular-shaped pattern of bound states with discr...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
American Physical Society
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Physical Review X |
| Online Access: | http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.15.011027 |
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| Summary: | A vortex is a topological defect in the superconducting condensate when a magnetic field is applied to a type-II superconductor, as elucidated by the Ginzburg-Landau theory. Because of the confinement of the quasiparticles by a vortex, it exhibits a circular-shaped pattern of bound states with discrete energy levels, as predicted by the Caroli–de Gennes–Matricon theory in 1964. Here, however, we report a completely new type of vortex pattern which is necklacelike in an iron-based superconductor KCa_{2}Fe_{4}As_{4}F_{2}. Our theoretical analysis shows that this necklacelike vortex pattern arises primarily from selective off-shell interference between vortex bound states of opposite angular momenta in the presence of rotational symmetry breaking due to disorders. This fascinating effect can be observed in a system with a small Fermi energy and wave vector, conditions fortuitously met in our samples. Our results not only disclose a novel vortex structure, but also unravel a completely new quantum phenomenon in the superconducting condensate. |
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| ISSN: | 2160-3308 |