Quantum Hall plateau transitions in disordered superconductors

Journal article

We study a delocalization transition for non-interacting quasiparticles moving in two dimensions, which belongs to a new symmetry class. This symmetry class can be realised in a dirty, gapless superconductor in which time reversal symmetry for orbital motion is broken, but spin rotation symmetry is intact. We find a direct transition between two insulating phases with quantized Hall conductances of zero and two for the conserved quasiparticles. The energy of quasiparticles acts as a relevant, symmetry-breaking field at the critical point, which splits the direct transition into two conventional plateau transitions.

Authors: Kagalovsky, V; Horovitz, B; Avishai, Y; Chalker, J

• Publication status: Published
• Publisher: American Institute of Physics Inc.
• Journal: Phys. Rev. Lett.
• Volume: 82
• Issue: 17
• Pages: 3516
• Publication date: 1998-12-09
• DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.82.3516
• EISSN: 1079-7114
• ISSN: 0031-9007
• Language: English
• Keywords: cond-mat.mes-hall