Current- and Field-Induced Topology in Twisted Nodal Superconductors

Pavel A Volkov; Justin H Wilson; Kevin P Lucht; J H Pixley

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.186001

Current- and Field-Induced Topology in Twisted Nodal Superconductors

Phys Rev Lett. 2023 May 5;130(18):186001. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.186001.

Authors

Pavel A Volkov^{1

2

3}, Justin H Wilson^{1

4}, Kevin P Lucht¹, J H Pixley^{1

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Center for Materials Theory, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA.
² Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
³ Department of Physics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269, USA.
⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Center for Computation and Technology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA.
⁵ Center for Computational Quantum Physics, Flatiron Institute, 162 5th Avenue, New York, New York 10010, USA.
⁶ Physics Department, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA.

PMID: 37204877
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.186001

Abstract

We show that interlayer current induces topological superconductivity in twisted bilayers of nodal superconductors. A bulk gap opens and achieves its maximum near a "magic" twist angle θ_{MA}. Chiral edge modes lead to a quantized thermal Hall effect at low temperatures. Furthermore, we show that an in-plane magnetic field creates a periodic lattice of topological domains with edge modes forming low-energy bands. We predict their signatures in scanning tunneling microscopy. Estimates for candidate materials indicate that twist angles θ∼θ_{MA} are optimal for observing the predicted effects.