Evidence for spin-triplet odd-parity superconductivity close to type-II van Hove singularities

Abstract

© 2015 American Physical Society. Searching for unconventional Cooper pairing states has been at the heart of superconductivity research since the discovery of BCS superconductors. In particular, spin-triplet odd-parity pairing states were recently revisited due to the possibility of tuning towards topological superconductors. In this context, it is interesting to note a recent proposal that such a spin-triplet pairing instability occurs when the band filling is near van Hove singularities (vHS) associated with momenta away from time-reversal invariant momenta named type-II vHS. However, this result was obtained within a weak coupling renormalization group with Fermi surface patch approximation. To explore superconducting instabilities beyond this weak coupling Fermi surface patch approximation, we perform systematic study on the Hubbard model in a two-dimensional square lattice using three different methods: random phase approximation, large-scale dynamical mean-field theory simulations with continuous time quantum Monte Carlo (CTQMC) impurity solver, and large-scale dynamical cluster simulations with the CTQMC cluster solver. We find, in a wide doping range centered around the type-II van Hove filling, a twofold degenerate, spin-triplet, odd-parity p-wave pairing state emerges due to repulsive interaction, when the Fermi surface is not sufficiently nested. Possible relevance of our findings to the recently discovered superconductors LaO1-xFxBiS2,Ir1-xPtxTe2, and proposed doped BC3 are also discussed.