Signature of Nematic Superconductivity in Cu_xBi₂Se₃: Ginzburg-Landau Theory with External Stress

Cu_xBi₂Se₃ displays superconductivity[1]. It garnerns considerable interest because Bi₂Se₃ is a topological insulator. Evidence of two-fold anisotropy suggests that the superconducting phase may be nematic[2, 3]. However, the upper critical field H_c2 also appears two-fold anisotropic[3], and this actually contradicts the nematic hypothesis[4]. A pre-existing "pinning field" could break the symmetry explicitly[4], but then this casts in doubt the interpretation of any two-fold anisotropy. We study the Ginzburg-Landau theory of a nematic order parameter coupled to external stress as a pinning field. We classify possible phase diagrams, and indicate experimental signatures that might distinguish, in a pre-existing pinning field, a true nematic phase from an isotropic phase.

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3. Yonezawa et. al. Nat. Phys 13, 123
4. Venderbos et. al. PRB 94, 094522