Twin boundaries in d-wave superconductors

Twin boundaries in orthorhombic d-wave superconductors are investigated numerically using the Bogoliubov–deGennes formalism within the context of an extended Hubbard model. The twin boundaries are represented by tetragonal regions of variable width, with a reduced chemical potential. For sufficiently large twin boundary width and change in chemical potential, an induced s-wave component may break time-reversal symmetry at a low temperature T*. The temperature T*, and the magnitude of the imaginary component, are found to depend strongly on electron density. The results are compared with recent tunneling measurements.