Spin-triplet superconductivity in K2Cr3As3.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Yang J
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8694604 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:Efforts have been ongoing to establish superconducting spintronics utilizing ferromagnet/superconductor heterostructures. Previously reported devices are based on spin-singlet superconductors (SSCs), where the spin degree of freedom is lost. Spin-polarized supercurrent induction in ferromagnetic metals (FMs) is achieved even with SSCs, but only with the aid of interfacial complex magnetic structures, which severely affect information imprinted to the electron spin. Use of spin-triplet superconductors (TSCs) with spin-polarizable Cooper pairs potentially overcomes this difficulty and further leads to novel functionalities. Here, we report spin-triplet superconductivity induction into a FM SrRuO3 from a leading TSC candidate Sr2RuO4, by fabricating microscopic devices using an epitaxial SrRuO3/Sr2RuO4 hybrid. The differential conductance, exhibiting Andreev-reflection features with multiple energy scales up to around half tesla, indicates the penetration of superconductivity over a considerable distance of 15 nm across the SrRuO3 layer without help of interfacial complex magnetism. This demonstrates potential utility of FM/TSC devices for superspintronics.
| S-EPMC5095176 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In all known fermionic superfluids, Cooper pairs are composed of spin-1/2 quasi-particles that pair to form either spin-singlet or spin-triplet bound states. The "spin" of a Bloch electron, however, is fixed by the symmetries of the crystal and the atomic orbitals from which it is derived and, in some cases, can behave as if it were a spin-3/2 particle. The superconducting state of such a system allows pairing beyond spin-triplet, with higher spin quasi-particles combining to form quintet or septet pairs. We report evidence of unconventional superconductivity emerging from a spin-3/2 quasi-particle electronic structure in the half-Heusler semimetal YPtBi, a low-carrier density noncentrosymmetric cubic material with a high symmetry that preserves the p-like j = 3/2 manifold in the Bi-based ?8 band in the presence of strong spin-orbit coupling. With a striking linear temperature dependence of the London penetration depth, the existence of line nodes in the superconducting order parameter ? is directly explained by a mixed-parity Cooper pairing model with high total angular momentum, consistent with a high-spin fermionic superfluid state. We propose a k ? p model of the j = 3/2 fermions to explain how a dominant J = 3 septet pairing state is the simplest solution that naturally produces nodes in the mixed even-odd parity gap. Together with the underlying topologically nontrivial band structure, the unconventional pairing in this system represents a truly novel form of superfluidity that has strong potential for leading the development of a new series of topological superconductors.
| S-EPMC5938259 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Spin triplet superconductivity in the Kondo lattice UTe2 appears to be associated with spin fluctuations originating from incipient ferromagnetic order. Here we show clear evidence of twofold enhancement of superconductivity under pressure, which discontinuously transitions to magnetic order, likely of ferromagnetic nature, at higher pressures. The application of a magnetic field tunes the system back across a first-order phase boundary. Straddling this phase boundary, we find another example of reentrant superconductivity in UTe2. As the superconductivity and magnetism exist on two opposite sides of the first-order phase boundary, our results indicate other microscopic mechanisms may be playing a role in stabilizing spin triplet superconductivity in addition to spin fluctuations associated with magnetism.
| S-EPMC8201659 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In conventional superconductors, electrons of opposite spins are bound into Cooper pairs. However, when the superconductor is in contact with a non-uniformly ordered ferromagnet, an exotic type of superconductivity can appear at the interface, with electrons bound into three possible spin-triplet states. Triplet pairs with equal spin play a vital role in low-dissipation spintronics. Despite the observation of supercurrents through ferromagnets, spectroscopic evidence for the existence of equal-spin triplet pairs is still missing. Here we show a theoretical model that reveals a characteristic gap structure in the quasiparticle density of states which provides a unique signature for the presence of equal-spin triplet pairs. By scanning tunnelling spectroscopy we measure the local density of states to reveal the spin configuration of triplet pairs. We demonstrate that the Al/EuS interface causes strong and tunable spin-mixing by virtue of its spin-dependent transmission.
| S-EPMC6286363 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Two graphene monolayers twisted by a small magic angle exhibit nearly flat bands, leading to correlated electronic states. Here we study a related but different system with reduced symmetry - twisted double bilayer graphene (TDBG), consisting of two Bernal stacked bilayer graphenes, twisted with respect to one another. Unlike the monolayer case, we show that isolated flat bands only appear on application of a vertical displacement field. We construct a phase diagram as a function of twist angle and displacement field, incorporating interactions via a Hartree-Fock approximation. At half-filling, ferromagnetic insulators are stabilized with valley Chern number [Formula: see text]. Upon doping, ferromagnetic fluctuations are argued to lead to spin-triplet superconductivity from pairing between opposite valleys. We highlight a novel orbital effect arising from in-plane fields plays an important role in interpreting experiments. Combined with recent experimental findings, our results establish TDBG as a tunable platform to realize rare phases in conventional solids.
| S-EPMC6877569 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Superconducting (SC) state has spin and orbital degrees of freedom, and spin-triplet superconductivity shows multiple SC phases because of the presence of these degrees of freedom. However, the observation of spin-direction rotation occurring inside the SC state (SC spin rotation) has hardly been reported. Uranium ditelluride, a recently found topological superconductor, exhibits various SC phases under pressure: SC state at ambient pressure (SC1), high-temperature SC state above 0.5 gigapascal (SC2), and low-temperature SC state above 0.5 gigapascal (SC3). We performed nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and ac susceptibility measurements on a single-crystal uranium ditelluride. The b axis spin susceptibility remains unchanged in SC2, unlike in SC1, and decreases below the SC2-SC3 transition with spin modulation. These unique properties in SC3 arise from the coexistence of two SC order parameters. Our NMR results confirm spin-triplet superconductivity with SC spin parallel to b axis in SC2 and unveil the remaining of spin degrees of freedom in SC uranium ditelluride.
| S-EPMC10381943 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Exploration of superconductivity in Cr-based compounds has attracted considerable interest because only a few Cr-based superconductors (CrAs, A2Cr3As3 and ACr3As3 (A = K, Rb, Cs, Na)) have been discovered so far and they show an unconventional pairing mechanism. We report the discovery of bulk superconductivity at 5.25 K in chromium nitride in Pr3Cr10-xN11 with a cubic lattice structure. A relatively large upper critical field of H c2(0) ∼ 12.6 T is determined, which is larger than the estimated Pauli-paramagnetic pair-breaking magnetic field. The material has a large electronic specific-heat coefficient of 170 mJ K-2 mol-1-about 10 times larger than that estimated by the electronic structure calculation, which suggests that correlations between 3d electrons are very strong in Pr3Cr10-xN11, and thus quantum fluctuations might be involved. Electronic structure calculations show that the density of states at the Fermi energy are contributed predominantly by Cr 3d electrons, implying that the superconductivity results mainly from the condensation of Cr 3d electrons. Pr3Cr10-xN11 represents a rare example of possible unconventional superconductivity emerging in a 3D system with strong electron correlations. Nevertheless, clarification of the specific pairing symmetry needs more investigation.
| S-EPMC8288919 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Superconductivity and spin-orbit (SO) interaction have been two separate emerging fields until very recently that the correlation between them seemed to be observed. However, previous experiments concerning SO coupling are performed far beyond the superconducting state and thus a direct demonstration of how SO coupling affects superconductivity remains elusive. Here we investigate the SO coupling in the critical region of superconducting transition on Al nanofilms, in which the strength of disorder and spin relaxation by SO coupling are changed by varying the film thickness. At temperatures T sufficiently above the superconducting critical temperature T(c), clear signature of SO coupling reveals itself in showing a magneto-resistivity peak. When T < T(c), the resistivity peak can still be observed; however, its line-shape is now affected by the onset of the quasi two-dimensional superconductivity. By studying such magneto-resistivity peaks under different strength of spin relaxation, we highlight the important effects of SO interaction on superconductivity.
| S-EPMC4069671 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Shedding light on the nature of spin-triplet superconductivity has been a long-standing quest in condensed matter physics since the discovery of superfluidity in liquid 3He. Nevertheless, the mechanism of spin-triplet pairing is much less understood than that of spin-singlet pairing explained by the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory or even observed in high-temperature superconductors. Here we propose a versatile mechanism for spin-triplet superconductivity which emerges through a melting of macroscopic spin polarization stabilized in weakly coupled odd-gon (e.g., triangle, pentagon, etc) systems. We demonstrate the feasibility of sustaining spin-triplet superconductivity with this mechanism by considering a new class of quasi-one-dimensional superconductors A2Cr3As3 (A = K, Rb, and Cs). Furthermore, we suggest a simple effective model to easily illustrate the adaptability of the mechanism to general systems consisting of odd-gon units. This mechanism provides a rare example of superconductivity from on-site Coulomb repulsion.
| S-EPMC6389994 | biostudies-literature
Project description:A bulk superconductor possessing a topological surface state at the Fermi level is a promising system to realise long-sought topological superconductivity. Although several candidate materials have been proposed, experimental demonstrations concurrently exploring spin textures and superconductivity at the surface have remained elusive. Here we perform spectroscopic-imaging scanning tunnelling microscopy on the centrosymmetric superconductor ?-PdBi2 that hosts a topological surface state. By combining first-principles electronic-structure calculations and quasiparticle interference experiments, we determine the spin textures at the surface, and show not only the topological surface state but also all other surface bands exhibit spin polarisations parallel to the surface. We find that the superconducting gap fully opens in all the spin-polarised surface states. This behaviour is consistent with a possible spin-triplet order parameter expected for such in-plane spin textures, but the observed superconducting gap amplitude is comparable to that of the bulk, suggesting that the spin-singlet component is predominant in ?-PdBi2.Although several materials have been proposed as topological superconductors, spin textures and superconductivity at the surface remain elusive. Here, Iwaya et al. determine the spin textures at the surface of a superconductor ?-PdBi2 and find the superconducting gap opening in all spin-polarised surface states.
| S-EPMC5730620 | biostudies-literature