Rotational Isotropy Breaking as Proof for Spin-polarized Cooper Pairs in the Topological Superconductor CuxBi2Se3

Abstract

In a promising candidate of topological superconductors, CuxBi2Se3, we propose a way to exclusively determine the pairing symmetry. The proposal suggests that the angle dependence of the thermal conductivity in the basal ab-plane shows a distinct strong anisotropy only when the pairing symmetry is an odd-parity spin-polarized triplet below the superconducting transition temperature (Tc). Such striking isotropy breaking below Tc is explicitly involved in Dirac formalism for superconductors, in which the spin-orbit coupling is essential. We classify possible gap functions based on the Dirac formalism and clarify an origin of the isotropy breaking.