Field angle-dependent thermal conductivity in nodal superconuctors

Abstract

We apply a semi-classical method to the problem of field angle-dependent oscillations of the density of states and thermal conductivity for nodal superconductors and apply our results to the superconductor PrOs$_4$Sb$_{12}$. The oscillatory contributions to the thermal conductivity for all possible point node configurations for a superconductor with $T_h$ symmetry are calculated. It is found that experimental results are best accounted for by nodes in the off-axis directions $[\pm \sin\phi_0, 0, \pm\cos\phi_0]$, which are associated with the time-reversal breaking, triplet paired phase $D_2(E)$.