Padilha I T, Continentino M A
Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Campus da Praia Vermelha, 24210-340, Niterói, JR, Brazil.
J Phys Condens Matter. 2009 Mar 4;21(9):095603. doi: 10.1088/0953-8984/21/9/095603. Epub 2009 Feb 13.
Multi-band systems such as inter-metallic and heavy fermion compounds have quasi-particles arising from different orbitals at their Fermi surface. Since these quasi-particles have different masses or densities, there is a natural mismatch of the Fermi wavevectors associated with different orbitals. This makes these materials potential candidates to observe exotic superconducting phases as Sarma or FFLO phases, even in the absence of an external magnetic field. The distinct orbitals coexisting at the Fermi surface are generally hybridized and their degree of mixing can be controlled by external pressure. In this work we investigate the existence of an FFLO type of phase in a two-band BCS superconductor controlled by hybridization. At zero temperature, as hybridization (pressure) increases we find that the BCS state becomes unstable with respect to an inhomogeneous superconducting state characterized by a single wavevector q.