Quasiclassical analysis of vortex lattice states in Rashba noncentrosymmetric superconductors

Abstract

Vortex lattice states occurring in noncentrosymmetric superconductors with a spin-orbit coupling of Rashba type under a magnetic field parallel to the symmetry plane are examined by assuming the s-wave pairing case and in an approach combining the quasiclassical theory with the Landau level expansion of the superconducting order parameter. The resulting field-temperature phase diagrams include not only a discontinuous transition but a continuous crossover between different vortex lattice structures, and, further, a critical end point of a structural transition line is found at an intermediate field and a low temperature in the present approach. It is pointed out that the strange field dependence of the vortex lattice structure is a consequence of that of its anisotropy stemming from the Rashba spin-orbit coupling, and that the critical end point is related to the helical phase modulation peculiar to these materials in the ideal Pauli-limited case. Furthermore, calculation results on the local density of states detectable in STM experiments are also presented.