Electronic orders in multiorbital Hubbard models with lifted orbital degeneracy

Abstract

We study the symmetry-broken phases in two- and three-orbital Hubbard models with lifted orbital degeneracy using dynamical mean field theory. On the technical level, we explain how symmetry relations can be exploited to measure the four-point correlation functions needed for the calculation of the lattice susceptibilities. In the half-filled two-orbital model with crystal field splitting, we find an instability of the metallic phase to spin-orbital order with neither spin nor orbital moment. This ordered phase is shown to be related to the recently discovered fluctuating-moment induced spin-triplet superconducting state in the orbitally degenerate model with shifted chemical potential. In the three-orbital case, we consider the effect of a crystal field splitting on the spin-triplet superconducting state in the model with positive Hund coupling, and the spin-singlet superconducting state in the case of negative Hund coupling. It is demonstrated that for certain crystal field splittings the higher energy orbitals instead of the lower ones are relevant for superconductivity, and that $T_c$ can be enhanced by the crystal field effect. We comment on the implications of our results for the superconductivity in strontium ruthenates, and for the recently reported light-enhanced superconducting state in alkali-doped fullerides.