Symmetry of superconducting correlations in displaced bilayers of graphene
Mohammad Alidoust, Morten Willatzen and Antti-Pekka Jauho
Phys. Rev. B 99, 155413 (2019). [PDF]
Using a Green's function approach, we study phonon-mediated superconducting pairing symmetries that may arise in bilayer graphene where the monolayers are displaced in-plane with respect to each other. We consider a generic coupling potential between the displaced graphene monolayers, which is applicable to both shifted and commensurate twisted graphene layers; study intralayer and interlayer phonon-mediated BCS pairings; and investigate AA and AB(AC) stacking orders. Our findings demonstrate that at the charge neutrality point, the dominant pairings in both AA and AB stackings with intralayer and interlayer electron-electron couplings can have even-parity s-wave class and odd-parity p-wave class of symmetries with the possibility of invoking equal-pseudospin and odd-frequency pair correlations. At a finite doping, however, the AB (and equivalently AC) stacking can develop pseudospin-singlet and pseudospin-triplet d-wave symmetry, in addition to s-wave, p-wave, f-wave, and their combinations, while the AA stacking order, similar to the undoped case, is unable to host the d-wave symmetry. When we introduce a generic coupling potential, applicable to commensurate twisted and shifted bilayers of graphene, d-wave symmetry can also appear at the charge neutrality point. Inspired by a recent experiment where two phonon modes were observed in a twisted bilayer graphene, we also discuss the possibility of the existence of two-gap superconductivity, where the intralayer and interlayer phonon-mediated BCS picture is responsible for superconductivity. These analyses may provide a useful tool in determining the superconducting pairing symmetries and mechanism in bilayer graphene systems.
