Modulated superconductivity near Pomeranchuk instabilities in the spin channel
Daniel Gustavo Barci, Paulo Sérgio de Abreu Bonfim
Abstract
We study the competition between a Pomeranchuk instability in spin-channel with angular momentum l = 1 and an attractive BCS interaction, favoring Cooper pair formation. We compute the phase diagram at mean-field level, finding a transition between two superconductor phases: a homogeneous and a modulated superconductor, with similar characteristics of the FFLO state. Differently from FFLO, time-reversal symmetry is preserved due to the spontaneous generation of a spin-orbit coupling. An experimental signature for this phase transition could be the simultaneous observation of anisotropic superconductivity and an anomalous Hall effect. A Fermi liquid is, except in one dimension, a very stable state of matter 1 . At least two type of instabilities, related with attractive interactions, are known: Pomeranchuk 2 and superconductor instabilities. Pomeranchuk instabilities occur in the presence of two-body interactions containing a strong attractive component in the forward scattering channel with a definite angular momentum. In the context of Landau theory, the instability sets in when one or more dimensionless Landau parameters F s,a l , with angular momentum l in the charge