Magnetic anisotropy of the superconducting transition in superconductor/antiferromagnet heterostructures with spin-orbit coupling

The influence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) on superconducting correlations in thin-film superconductor/antiferromagnet (S/AF) structures with compensated interfaces is studied. A unique effect of anisotropic enhancement of proximity-induced triplet correlations by the SOC is predicted. It manifests itself in the anisotropy of the superconducting critical temperature ${T}_{c}$ with respect to orientation of the N\'eel vector relative to the S/AF interface, which is opposite to the behavior of ${T}_{c}$ in superconductor/ferromagnet structures. We show that the anisotropy is controlled by the chemical potential of the superconductor and, therefore, can be adjusted in (quasi-)2D structures.