Signatures of topological phase transitions in the s-wave superconductor at finite temperature

Abstract

In two dimensions, an s-wave superconductor in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling possesses distinct topologically non-trivial ground state phases controlled by Zeeman splitting and band filling. These phases can be characterized in terms of spin textures in momentum space. Although the spin texture becomes topologically trivial at finite temperatures, we identify thermodynamic signatures that are directly related to the topological phase transitions of the ground state. In particular, relative maxima in the entropy as a function of the magnetic field in the vicinity of topological phase transitions emerge and are attributed to a sign change in the derivative of the magnetization with respect to temperature.