The Kerr rotation in the unconventional superconductor Sr$_2$RuO$_4

• Main Authors: Gradhand, Martin, Wysokinski, Karol I, Annett, James F, Györffy, Balazs L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 29-07-2013
• Subjects: Physics - Materials Science; Physics - Superconductivity
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1307.7515

Phys. Rev. B 88, 094504 (2013) The interpretation of Kerr rotation measurements in the superconducting phase
of Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ is a controversial topic. Both intrinsic and extrinsic
mechanisms have been proposed, and it has been argued that the intrinsic
response vanishes by symmetry. We focus on the intrinsic contribution and
clarify several conflicting results in the literature. On the basis of symmetry
considerations and detailed calculations we show that the intrinsic Kerr signal
is not forbidden in a general multi- band system but has a rich structure in
the near infrared regime. We distinguish different optical transitions
determined by the superconducting gap (far infrared) and the inter orbital
coupling of the normal state (near infrared). We argue that the low frequency
transitions do not contribute to the Hall conductivity while only the
inter-orbital transitions in the near infrared regime contribute. Finally, we
discuss the difficulties to connect the calculations for the optical Hall
conductivity to the experimental measurement of the Kerr angle. We will compare
different approximations which might lead to conflicting results.