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Magnetic-field-sensitive charge density waves in the superconductor UTe2

Author

Listed:
  • Anuva Aishwarya

    (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

  • Julian May-Mann

    (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    University of Illinois)

  • Arjun Raghavan

    (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

  • Laimei Nie

    (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    University of Illinois)

  • Marisa Romanelli

    (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

  • Sheng Ran

    (University of Maryland
    National Institute of Standards and Technology
    Washington University in St. Louis)

  • Shanta R. Saha

    (University of Maryland)

  • Johnpierre Paglione

    (University of Maryland
    Canadian Institute for Advanced Research)

  • Nicholas P. Butch

    (University of Maryland
    National Institute of Standards and Technology)

  • Eduardo Fradkin

    (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    University of Illinois)

  • Vidya Madhavan

    (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    Canadian Institute for Advanced Research)

Abstract

The intense interest in triplet superconductivity partly stems from theoretical predictions of exotic excitations such as non-Abelian Majorana modes, chiral supercurrents and half-quantum vortices1–4. However, fundamentally new and unexpected states may emerge when triplet superconductivity appears in a strongly correlated system. Here we use scanning tunnelling microscopy to reveal an unusual charge-density-wave (CDW) order in the heavy-fermion triplet superconductor UTe2 (refs. 5–8). Our high-resolution maps reveal a multi-component incommensurate CDW whose intensity gets weaker with increasing field, with the CDW eventually disappearing at the superconducting critical field Hc2. To understand the phenomenology of this unusual CDW, we construct a Ginzburg–Landau theory for a uniform triplet superconductor coexisting with three triplet pair-density-wave states. This theory gives rise to daughter CDWs that would be sensitive to magnetic field owing to their origin in a pair-density-wave state and provides a possible explanation for our data. Our discovery of a CDW state that is sensitive to magnetic fields and strongly intertwined with superconductivity provides important information for understanding the order parameters of UTe2.

Suggested Citation

  • Anuva Aishwarya & Julian May-Mann & Arjun Raghavan & Laimei Nie & Marisa Romanelli & Sheng Ran & Shanta R. Saha & Johnpierre Paglione & Nicholas P. Butch & Eduardo Fradkin & Vidya Madhavan, 2023. "Magnetic-field-sensitive charge density waves in the superconductor UTe2," Nature, Nature, vol. 618(7967), pages 928-933, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:618:y:2023:i:7967:d:10.1038_s41586-023-06005-8
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06005-8
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    Cited by:

    1. Huimin Zhang & Basu Dev Oli & Qiang Zou & Xu Guo & Zhengfei Wang & Lian Li, 2023. "Visualizing symmetry-breaking electronic orders in epitaxial Kagome magnet FeSn films," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    2. Alexander LaFleur & Hong Li & Corey E. Frank & Muxian Xu & Siyu Cheng & Ziqiang Wang & Nicholas P. Butch & Ilija Zeljkovic, 2024. "Inhomogeneous high temperature melting and decoupling of charge density waves in spin-triplet superconductor UTe2," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.

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