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Abstract:
The pnictide superconductor SrPtAs has a hexagonal layered structure
containing inversion symmetry. It is formed by stacking two inequivalent
PtAs layers separated by Sr layers. The former have no local (in-plane)
inversion symmetry and, therefore, a (layer-) staggered Rashba spin
orbit coupling appears which splits the three Kramers degenerate bands
per layer into six quasi-2D bands. The symmetry of the superconducting
state of SrPtAs is unknown. Three candidates, spin-singlet A1(g) and Eg
as well as triplet A(2u) states have been proposed. We predict the
quasiparticle interference (QPI) spectrum for these gap functions in
t-matrix Born approximation. We show that distinct differences in the
pattern of characteristic QPI wave vectors appear. These results may be
important to determine the gap symmetry of SrPtAs by STM-QPI method.
Copyright (c) EPLA, 2014
