Puzzling superconductivity in strontium ruthenate: then and now

Abstract

Strontium ruthenate is a very interesting low temperature superconductor with relatively simple normal state and very puzzling superconducting state properties. Despite over thirty years of intensive research, even the precise symmetry of the order parameter is not known. In this paper we briefly review some of the key developments, focussing on some of the newer experiments, especially those which challenged the previous understanding that it is a spin triplet odd parity chiral p-wave superconductor. Since Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ now appears most probably a spin singlet superconductor we have calculated the Kerr effect for one candidate $d$-wave pairing state. We find that for the chiral $d$-wave $E_g$ pairing state the calculated Hall conductance is non-zero and qualitatively similar to that found earlier under the assumption of a chiral p-wave $E_u$ order parameter. We characterize the Hall conductance in relation to two sum rules, one related to Berry curvatures in the Bogoliubov quasiparticle states, and the other $f$-sum rule indicating the presence of inter-orbital pairing.