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.

*Research at the University of Maryland was supported by the Department of Energy (No. DE-SC-0019154, sample characterization), the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s EPiQS Initiative (No. GBMF9071, materials synthesis), NIST, and the Maryland Quantum Materials Center. Q.G., J.P.C., S.W., X.L. and J.C.S.D. acknowledge support from the Moore Foundation’s EPiQS Initiative (GBMF9457), the Royal Society (R64897), Science Foundation Ireland (SFI 17/RP/5445), the European Research Council (DLV-788932).

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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