The role of spin-orbit coupling on the electronic structure properties of non-centrosymmetric La7Ir3 superconductor

Abstract

We have carried out the first-principles calculations of the electronic band structure properties of weakly electron correlated, non-centrosymmetric La7Ir3 superconductor (Tc = 2.25 K). We have utilized the GGA-PBE exchange-correlation functionals, implemented in the FP-LAPW ELK code to determine Electronic bands, Densities of States, Fermi surfaces and Electron localization functions. A comparative analysis of scalar relativistic and fully relativistic results reveals the presence of both asymmetric spin - orbit coupling (ASOC) and ordinary spin-orbit coupling (SOC). We have shown that the ASOC with an energy of ΔEASOC≈ 10-60 meV, corresponding to relatively low ratio ΔEASOC/kBTc≈ 50-310, which is not high enough to cause deviation of the superconductivity from the standard BCS theory.