Ephemeral Superconductivity Atop the False Vacuum

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Shavit, Gal, Nadj-Perge, Stevan, Refael, Gil
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author Shavit, Gal
Nadj-Perge, Stevan
Refael, Gil
author_facet Shavit, Gal
Nadj-Perge, Stevan
Refael, Gil
contents A many body system in the vicinity of a first-order phase transition may get trapped in a local minimum of the free energy landscape. These so-called false-vacuum states may survive for exceedingly long times if the barrier for their decay is high enough. The rich phase diagram obtained in graphene multilayer devices presents a unique opportunity to explore transient superconductivity on top of a correlated false vacuum. Specifically, we consider superconductors which are terminated by an apparent first-order phase transition to a correlated phase with different symmetry. We propose that quenching across this transition leads to a non-equilibrium ephemeral superconductor, readily detectable using straightforward transport measurements. Besides enabling a simple detection scheme, the transient superconductor also generically enhances the false vacuum lifetime, potentially by orders of magnitude. In several scenarios, the complimentary effect takes place as well: superconductivity is temporarily emboldened in the false vacuum, albeit ultimately decaying. We demonstrate the applicability of these claims for two different instances of superconductivity terminated by a first order transition in rhombohedral graphene. The obtained decay timescales position this class of materials as a promising playground to unambiguously realize and measure non-equilibrium superconductivity.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_02992
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Ephemeral Superconductivity Atop the False Vacuum
Shavit, Gal
Nadj-Perge, Stevan
Refael, Gil
Superconductivity
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Strongly Correlated Electrons
A many body system in the vicinity of a first-order phase transition may get trapped in a local minimum of the free energy landscape. These so-called false-vacuum states may survive for exceedingly long times if the barrier for their decay is high enough. The rich phase diagram obtained in graphene multilayer devices presents a unique opportunity to explore transient superconductivity on top of a correlated false vacuum. Specifically, we consider superconductors which are terminated by an apparent first-order phase transition to a correlated phase with different symmetry. We propose that quenching across this transition leads to a non-equilibrium ephemeral superconductor, readily detectable using straightforward transport measurements. Besides enabling a simple detection scheme, the transient superconductor also generically enhances the false vacuum lifetime, potentially by orders of magnitude. In several scenarios, the complimentary effect takes place as well: superconductivity is temporarily emboldened in the false vacuum, albeit ultimately decaying. We demonstrate the applicability of these claims for two different instances of superconductivity terminated by a first order transition in rhombohedral graphene. The obtained decay timescales position this class of materials as a promising playground to unambiguously realize and measure non-equilibrium superconductivity.
title Ephemeral Superconductivity Atop the False Vacuum
topic Superconductivity
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Strongly Correlated Electrons
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.02992