Non-Centrosymmetric Superconductors

May 30/31 2008

Non-centrosymmetric superconductors belong to the recent leading topics in the field of unconventional superconductivity after the discovery of the heavy fermion superconductor CePt₃Si.

The term ''non-centrosymmetric'' characterizes the symmetry of a crystal lattice without inversion center. In such materials the standard classification in even-parity spin-singlet and odd-parity spin triplet superconducting phases is obsolete, because the electrons are exposed to antisymmetric spin-orbit coupling, e.g. Rashba-type of coupling. New forms of pairing appear giving rise to unusual behaviors. During recent years we have witnessed rapid developments on the side of experiments and synthesis of novel materials as well as in the theoretical understanding of this type of superconductors. Indeed many new materials have been found, in particular, among the heavy fermions for which unconventional Cooper pairing is expected. Novel intriguing behavior appears in particular in high magnetic fields, at low temperatures, with high pressure, in the Josephson effect etc.. Novel mixed-state phases (vortex matter) have been predicted in theory and are under experimental investigations. Complex phase diagrams involving superconductivity and magnetism is an aspect where exciting new physics may appear as some theoretical studies suggest.

At this stage we believe that a workshop of 2-3 days gathering the major researchers in experiment and theory would be highly beneficial. Roughly four years of research in this field have already produced a large body of experimental results and theoretical ideas. At this point it seems important to us that consensus and disagreement on various crucial issues is sorted out, and new questions and directions are identified. A workshop of this kind would be a suitable forum to achieve this goal.

Organization

• Manfred Sigrist (ETH Zurich)
• Ernst Bauer (TU Wien)

List of Speakers

• Daniel Agterberg (USA)
• Ismardo Bonalde (Venecuela)
• Andrea Caviglia (University of Geneva)
• Matthias Eschrig (Germany)
• Satoshi Fujimoto (Japan)
• Nobuhiko Hayashi (Japan)
• Christian Iniotakis (ETH Zurich)
• Rustem Khasanov (Switzerland)
• Noriaki Kimura (Japan)
• Vladimir Mineev (France)
• Ana-Celia Mota (ETH Zurich)
• Hidekazu Mukuda (Japan)
• Yoshichika Onuki (Japan)
• Kirill Samokhin (Canada)
• Yukio Tanaka (Japan)
• Youichi Yanase (Japan)
• Sungkit Yip (Taiwan)

Program

Download Program NCS Workshop 2008