Electromagnetic Responses of Vortex Lattices in Unconventional Superconductors

Abstract

The electro-magnetic responses of ordered vortex lattices in unconventional superconductors are studied in a high field approximation. In the cases with a vortex lattice formed within the lowest Landau level of the superconducting order parameter (OP) such as a conventional s-wave paired system with a single OP and a nonchiral spin triplet paired one with multiple components of OPs, the vanishing of the superfluid stiffness for a gauge field disturbance perpendicular to the applied uniform magnetic field is found to be ensured only for the vortex lattice structures minimizing the free energy. The notion of the vanishing superfluid stiff ness ensured by minimization of the free energy is found to be satisfied in a more complex d-wave pairing case where the vortex lattice in lower fields has an anisotropic structure de viated from the six-fold hexagonal symmetry. Interestingly, such an anisotropy in the vortex lattice structure of a d-wave paired superconductor is reflected not in the resulting vortex flow conductivities obtained after minimizing the free energy but in the elastic energy describing the harmonic fluctuation around the vortex lattice state. Relevance of the obtained results to the vortex pinning effects are discussed.