$H$-$T$ Phase Diagram of Multi-component Superconductors with Frustrated Inter-component Couplings

Abstract

Multi-band superconductors in which frustrated inter-band couplings yield a time-reversal-symmetry breaking (TRSB) state are investigated. Stability condition for the TRSB state are derived based on the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory. With the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau (GL) method, vortex states are investigated first at the vicinity of critical temperature $T_\text{c}$ where the GL theory is valid, and the results are extended to compose the $H$-$T$ phase diagram. When material parameters satisfy the condition that the nucleation field is slightly larger than the thermodynamic field ($H_\text{n} \gtrsim H_\text{tc}$) derived in a previous work (X. Hu and Z. Wang, Phys. Rev. B 85, 064516 (2012)), an unconventional intermediate state characterized by clustering vortices appears. Calculation of interface energy reveals that the clustering vortices are associated with positive interface energy.