Superconductivity without inversion symmetry in CePt3Si

Based on symmetry arguments by Anderson, the following conditions are necessary for the formation of Cooper pairs: spin-singlet pairing relies on time-reversal symmetry, while spin-triplet pairing requires parity in addition. The rather general formulation of this rule has led to the common belief that the lack of an inversion center in a material would prevent spin-triplet pairing indiscriminately. In this presentation, we discuss symmetry aspects of superconductivity in a class of systems without inversion symmetry which is connected with spin-orbit coupling. We can show that, not only spin singlet pairing, but also certain spin triplet states remain unaffected by the loss of inversion symmetry. Moreover, the absence of an inversion center reduces the effect of paramagnetic limiting for spin-singlet pairing states in an external magnetic field. Based on this symmetry analysis, we examine the recently discovered heavy Fermion superconductor CePt3Si, where a missing inversion plane leads to the well-known Rashba-type of spin-orbit coupling. In particular, the problem of the pairing symmetry will be addressed as well as several properties of the superconducting phase which appears close to a quantum phase transition between a paramagnetic and antiferromagnetic phase. The same kind of analysis will also be done for another example Ulr. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.