Electronic states on a twin boundary of a d-wave superconductor

Abstract

We show that an induced $s$-wave harmonic in the superconducting gap of an orthorhombic $d_{x^2-y^2}$ superconductor strongly affects the excitation spectrum near a twinning plane. In particular, it yields bound states of zero energy with areal density proportional to the relative weight of the $s$-wave component. An unusual scattering process responsible for the thermal conductivity across the twin boundary at low temperatures is also identified.