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Detection of a Pair Density Wave State in UTe<sub>2</sub>

ORAL

Abstract

UTe2 is a promising candidate material to embody bulk topological superconductivity due to spin-triplet pairing. Moreover, the newly discovered CDW state coexisting with superconductivity in UTe2 motivates the exciting prospect that a PDW state may occur. To search for a PDW in UTe2, we visualize the pairing energy-gap with μV-scale energy resolution made possible by superconductive STM tips at subkelvin temperatures. We detect three PDWs, each with gap modulations circa 10 μeV and at incommensurate wavevectors that are indistinguishable from the wavevectors of the prevenient CDW, but with a π spatial-phase difference. From these observations and given UTe2 as a spin-triplet superconductor, this PDW may presage spin-triplet pair density wave physics.

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Publication: Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/2209.10859

Presenters

  • Qiangqiang Gu

    LASSP, Department of Physics, Cornell University, Cornell University

Authors

  • Qiangqiang Gu

    LASSP, Department of Physics, Cornell University, Cornell University

  • Joseph Paul Carroll

    University College Cork

  • Shuqiu Wang

    University of Oxford

  • Sheng Ran

    Washington University, St. Louis

  • Christopher Broyles

    Washington University in St. Louis

  • Hasan Siddiquee

    Washington University in St. Louis

  • Nicholas P Butch

    National Institute of Standards and Tech, NIST and U. of Maryland

  • Shanta Saha

    University of Maryland, College Park

  • Johnpierre Paglione

    University of Maryland, College Park

  • Seamus S Davis

    University of Oxford, University College Cork, Cornell University, Grad. Centre for Quantum Materials at Max Planck Institute, University of Oxford, University College Cork, University of Oxford, University College Cork

  • Xiaolong Liu

    Cornell University