Type II Lifshitz invariant and linear Higgs mode in time-reversal symmetry broken superconductors

Author: Nagashima, Raigo

Affiliation: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

Type: Poster

Display Dates: 22.07.2026 - 23.07.2026

Board: WT-079

Lifshitz invariant is a symmetry-allowed term in the Ginzburg-Landau free energy of an ordered phase, involving the order parameters and a single spatial derivative, which serves as a source of unusual optical responses. Here we introduce a “type II” Lifshitz invariant for superconductors, which changes its sign under the particle-hole transformation and can be distinguished from the ordinary particle-hole even “type I” Lifshitz invariant. We show that the type II Lifshitz invariant appears only in superconductors that break time-reversal symmetry and allows the Higgs mode to be visible in the optical conductivity spectrum. We provide a classification of all pairs of irreducible corepresentations of order parameters in the magnetic point groups that admit a type II Lifshitz invariant. We also numerically calculate the optical conductivity for various models of time-reversal-symmetry-broken multiband superconductors, finding agreement with the group-theoretical analysis.