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Register a new userChiral superconductivity in UTe2 probed by anisotropic low-energy excitations
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Chiral spin-triplet superconductivity is a topologically nontrivial pairing state with broken time-reversal symmetry, which can host Majorana quasiparticles. The recently discovered heavy-fermion superconductor UTe$_2$ exhibits peculiar properties of spin-triplet pairing, and the possible chiral state has been actively discussed. However, the symmetry and nodal structure of its order parameter in the bulk, which determine the Majorana surface states, remains controversial. Here we focus on the number and positions of superconducting gap nodes in the ground state of UTe$_2$. Our magnetic penetration depth measurements for three field orientations in the Meissner state reveal the power-law temperature dependence with exponents less than 2, which excludes single-component spin-triplet states. The anisotropy of low-energy quasiparticle excitations indicates multiple point nodes near the $k_y$- and $k_z$-axes, evidencing that the order parameter has multiple components in a chiral complex form. We find that most consistent is a chiral $B_{3u}+iA_u$ non-unitary state, which provides fundamentals of the topological properties in UTe$_2$.
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We present a low-energy muon-spin-rotation study of the magnetic and superconducting properties of YBa2Cu3O7/PrBa2Cu3O7 trilayer and bilayer heterostructures. By determining the magnetic-field profiles throughout these structures we show that a finite superfluid density can be induced in otherwise semiconducting PrBa2Cu3O7 layers when juxtaposed to YBa2Cu3O7 electrodes while the intrinsic antiferromagnetic order is unaffected.
Time-reversal symmetry breaking (TRSB) in UTe2 was inferred from observations of a spontaneous Kerr response in the superconducting state after cooling in zero magnetic field, while a finite c-axis magnetic field training was further used to determine the nature of the non-unitary composite order-parameter of this material. Here we present an extensive study of the magnetic-field-trained Kerr effect, which unveils a unique critical state of pinned ferromagnetic vortices. We show that a remanent Kerr signal that appears following the removal of a training magnetic field, which reflects the response of the TRSB order parameter and the external magnetic field through the paramagnetic susceptibility. This unambiguously demonstrate the importance of the ferromagnetic fluctuations and their intimate relation to the composite order parameter. Focusing the measurement to the center of the sample, we are able to accurately determine the maximum field that is screened by the critical state and the respective critical current. Measurements in the presence of magnetic field show the tendency of the superconductor to produce shielding currents that oppose the increase in vortex-induced magnetization due to the diverging paramagnetic susceptibility.
We have measured the thermal conductivity of the iron pnictide superconductor LaFePO down to temperatures as low as T=60mK and in magnetic fields up to 5 T. The data shows a large residual contribution that is linear in temperature, consistent with the presence of low energy electronic quasiparticles. We interpret the magnitude of the linear term, as well as the field and temperature dependence of thermal transport in several pairing scenarios. The presence of an unusual supralinear temperature dependence of the electronic thermal conductivity in zero magnetic field, and a high scattering rate with minimal Tc suppression argues for a sign-changing nodal s+/- state.
Recently, a new family of iron-based superconductors called 12442 was discovered and the muon spin relaxation ($mu$SR) measurements on KCa$_2$Fe$_4$As$_4$F$_2$ and CsCa$_2$Fe$_4$As$_4$F$_2$ polycrystals, two members of the family, indicated that both have a nodal superconducting gap structure with $s+d$ pairing symmetry. Here we report the ultralow-temperature thermal conductivity measurements on CsCa$_2$Fe$_4$As$_4$F$_2$ single crystals ($T_c$ = 29.3 K). A negligible residual linear term $kappa_0/T$ in zero field and the field dependence of $kappa_0/T$ suggest multiple nodeless superconducting gaps in CsCa$_2$Fe$_4$As$_4$F$_2$. This gap structure is similar to CaKFe$_4$As$_4$ and moderately doped Ba$_{1-x}$K$_x$Fe$_2$As$_2$, but contrasts to the nodal gap structure indicated by the $mu$SR measurements on CsCa$_2$Fe$_4$As$_4$F$_2$ polycrystals.
A chiral superconductor has been proposed as one pathway to realize topological quantum computation utilizing the predicted Majorana normal fluid at its boundary (i.e., a point, edge, or surface). The search for experimental realizations has led to the discovery of 1D chiral superconducting systems. However, the long-sought 2D and 3D chiral superconductors with edge and surface Majorana normal fluid are yet to be conclusively found. Here we report evidence for a chiral spin-triplet pairing state of UTe$_2$ with significant surface normal fluid response. The microwave surface impedance of the UTe$_2$ crystal was measured and converted to complex conductivity, which is sensitive to both normal and superfluid responses. The anomalous residual normal fluid conductivity in the zero temperature limit supports the presence of a significant normal fluid response. The superfluid conductivity follows the low temperature behavior predicted for the axial spin-triplet state, which is further narrowed down to the chiral spin-triplet state with evidence of broken time-reversal symmetry. The temperature dependence of the superfluid conductivity also reveals a low bulk impurity scattering rate and low frequency-to-energy-gap ratio, implying that the observed normal fluid response does not have a trivial origin. Our findings suggest that UTe$_2$ can be a new platform to study exotic topological excitations in higher dimension, and may play the role of a versatile 3D building block in the future era of topological quantum computation.
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