Vortices with Fractional Flux Quanta in Multi-Band Superconductors

Abstract

In superconductors with three or more components, time-reversal symmetry may be broken when the inter-component couplings are repulsive, leading to a superconducting state with two-fold degeneracy. When prepared carefully there is a stable domain wall on a constriction which connects two bulks in states with opposite chiralities. Applying on external magnetic field, vortices in different components dissociate with each other, resulting in a ribbon shape distribution of magnetic field at the position of domain wall.