Supercurrent-induced topological phase transitions

We show that finite current in superconductors can induce topological phase transitions, as a result of the deformation of the quasiparticle spectrum by a finite center-of-mass (COM) momentum of the Cooper pairs. To show the wide applicability of this mechanism, we examine the topological properties of three prototypical systems: the Kitaev chain, s-wave superconductors, and d-wave superconductors. We introduce a finite COM momentum as an external field corresponding to the supercurrent and show that all the models exhibit currentinduced topological phase transitions. We also discuss the possibility of observing the phase transitions in experiments and the relation to the other finite COM momentum pairing states.

Automated summary

We demonstrate that finite current can induce topological phase transitions in superconductors by deforming the quasiparticle spectrum through the finite center-of-mass momentum of Cooper pairs. We examine the topological properties of three prototypical systems and show that all models exhibit current-induced topological phase transitions. We discuss the possibility of observing these phase transitions in experiments and their relation to other pairing states with finite center-of-mass momentum.