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Chiral topological superconductivity in the heavy fermion superconductor UTe<sub>2</sub>

Invited

Abstract

Topological superconductors represent a fundamentally new phase of matter. Similar to topological insulators, the non-trivial topological characteristics of a topological superconductor dictate the presence of a topological edge states composed of Bogoliubov quasiparticles which live inside and span the superconducting gap. The intense interest in these materials stems from the fact that Bogoliubov excitations inside the gap of a topological superconductor are predicted to have all the characteristics of Majorana Fermions. A chiral p-wave superconductor which is topologically non-trivial is a natural platform for realizing these Majorana modes. In this talk I present scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) data on the newly discovered heavy fermion superconductor, UTe2 with a TC of 1.6K. I will show signatures of coexisting Kondo effect and superconductivity which show competing spatial modulations within one unit-cell. STM spectroscopy at step edges show signatures of chiral in-gap states, predicted to exist at the boundaries of a topological superconductor. Combined with existing data indicating triplet pairing, the presence of chiral edge states suggests that UTe2 is a strong candidate material for chiral-triplet topological superconductivity.

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Presenters

  • Vidya Madhavan

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Authors

  • Vidya Madhavan

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • Lin Jiao

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • Sean T Howard

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • Sheng Ran

    National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology, University of Maryland, College Park, Quantum Materials Center, Department of Physics, University of Maryland College Park, Physics, Washington University in St. Louis, Maryland Quantum Materials Center and Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, Washington University, Physics Department, Washington University in St. Louis, NIST Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Washington University in St. Louis, Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, University of Maryland, College Park

  • Zhenyu Wang

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • Jorge Olivares Rodriguez

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • Manfred W Sigrist

    ETH Zurich, Institute for Theoretical Physics, ETH Zurich, Switzerland, Institut für Theoretische Physik, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

  • Ziqiang Wang

    Boston University, Physics, Boston College, Boston College, Department of Physics, Boston College

  • Nicholas Butch

    National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology, NCNR, National Institute for Standard and Technology, NIST/University of Maryland, Center of Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST, Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST Center for Neutro Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology, University of Maryland