Ultrasound response to time-reversal symmetry breaking below the superconducting phase transition

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Halcrow, Chris, Leask, Paul, Babaev, Egor
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Halcrow, Chris
Leask, Paul
Babaev, Egor
author_facet Halcrow, Chris
Leask, Paul
Babaev, Egor
contents Ultrasound attenuation is a powerful probe of symmetry-breaking phenomena in superconductors. In this work, we develop a framework to model the ultrasound response of multi-component superconductors undergoing a time-reversal symmetry breaking transition below the superconducting phase transition. By coupling the elastic strain of the crystal lattice to the superconducting order parameters through group-theoretical analysis of tetragonal crystals, we classify how different symmetry channels contribute to the ultrasound signal. Using a two-component Ginzburg--Landau theory, we analyze the temperature dependence of sound velocity across both superconducting and time-reversal symmetry breaking transitions for several cases, including $(A_{1g}, A_{1g})$, $(A_{2g}, B_{1g})$, and $E_g$ representations. Our results demonstrate that ultrasound measurements are highly sensitive to the presence of bilinear Josephson couplings and can distinguish between different realizations of the superconducting state. We further show how external strain can significantly alter the ultrasound response in systems breaking time reversal symmetry.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_18922
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Ultrasound response to time-reversal symmetry breaking below the superconducting phase transition
Halcrow, Chris
Leask, Paul
Babaev, Egor
Superconductivity
Ultrasound attenuation is a powerful probe of symmetry-breaking phenomena in superconductors. In this work, we develop a framework to model the ultrasound response of multi-component superconductors undergoing a time-reversal symmetry breaking transition below the superconducting phase transition. By coupling the elastic strain of the crystal lattice to the superconducting order parameters through group-theoretical analysis of tetragonal crystals, we classify how different symmetry channels contribute to the ultrasound signal. Using a two-component Ginzburg--Landau theory, we analyze the temperature dependence of sound velocity across both superconducting and time-reversal symmetry breaking transitions for several cases, including $(A_{1g}, A_{1g})$, $(A_{2g}, B_{1g})$, and $E_g$ representations. Our results demonstrate that ultrasound measurements are highly sensitive to the presence of bilinear Josephson couplings and can distinguish between different realizations of the superconducting state. We further show how external strain can significantly alter the ultrasound response in systems breaking time reversal symmetry.
title Ultrasound response to time-reversal symmetry breaking below the superconducting phase transition
topic Superconductivity
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.18922