Speaker
Description
The symmetries of unconventional superconductors may be classified by the locations of their gap nodes. Recently, the role of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) has become important, as sufficiently strong SOC generates novel mixed-parity superconductivity. In this talk, I show that the nodal structure of unconventional superconductors may be determined by angle-dependent magneto-thermal conductivity measurements, provided the SOC is larger than the quasiparticle scattering rate. This effect is complementary to vortex-induced magneto-thermal oscillations identified previously, and is dominant in strongly anisotropic materials. As an application, I present results for the magneto-thermal conductivity of the "Rashba bilayer" YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6.5}$, which possesses a so-called "hidden spin-orbit coupling." We find that the SOC endows $\kappa_{xx}/T$ with a characteristic field-angle dependence that should be easily observed experimentally.