Enhanced triplet superconductivity in next-generation ultraclean UTe2.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
; 121(37): e2403067121, 2024 Sep 10.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-39240969
ABSTRACT
The unconventional superconductor UTe[Formula see text] exhibits numerous signatures of spin-triplet superconductivity-a rare state of matter which could enable quantum computation protected against decoherence. UTe[Formula see text] possesses a complex phase landscape comprising two magnetic field-induced superconducting phases, a metamagnetic transition to a field-polarized state, along with pair- and charge-density wave orders. However, contradictory reports between studies performed on UTe[Formula see text] specimens of varying quality have severely impeded theoretical efforts to understand the microscopic origins of the exotic superconductivity. Here, we report a comprehensive suite of high magnetic field measurements on a generation of pristine quality UTe[Formula see text] crystals. Our experiments reveal a significantly revised high magnetic field superconducting phase diagram in the ultraclean limit, showing a pronounced sensitivity of field-induced superconductivity to the presence of crystalline disorder. We employ a Ginzburg-Landau model that excellently captures this acute dependence on sample quality. Our results suggest that in close proximity to a field-induced metamagnetic transition the enhanced role of magnetic fluctuations-that are strongly suppressed by disorder-is likely responsible for tuning UTe[Formula see text] between two distinct spin-triplet superconducting phases.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Language:
En
Journal:
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United kingdom
Country of publication:
United States