Time reversal symmetry-breaking in superconductors with and without a centre of inversion

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• Dr. Adrian Hillier, ISIS Facility Muon Source, STFC
• Friday 11 October 2013, 13:45-15:00
• Physics East 217.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Elizabeth Blackburn.

Symmetry breaking is a central concept of physics for which superconductivity provides a paradigm. In a conventional superconductor gauge symmetry is broken, while unconventional superfluids and superconductors break other symmetries as well. Examples include 3He, cuprate high-temperature superconductors, the ruthenate Sr2RuO4 and the non-centrosymmetric LaNiC2 and recently the centrosymmetric LaNiGa2. One of the most direct ways of detecting an unconventional superconducting state is muon spin relaxation (muSR), as it can establish broken time reversal symmetry (TRS) and by using muon spin rotation the symmetry of the superconducting gap can be determined.

Here, we shall report on a number of results from muon spin relaxation/rotation experiments on centrosymmetric and non-centrosymmetric intermetallic superconductors. Some of these results show the appearance of spontaneous magnetic fields, implying that in the superconducting state time reversal symmetry is broken. Furthermore, by exploiting group-theoretic analysis the possible pairing symmetries can be constrained.

This talk is part of the Condensed Matter Physics Seminars series.

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• Bham Talks
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