Wu Z, Weinberger T I, Chen J, Cabala A, Chichinadze D V, Shaffer D, Pospíšil J, Prokleška J, Haidamak T, Bastien G, Sechovský V, Hickey A J, Mancera-Ugarte M J, Benjamin S, Graf D E, Skourski Y, Lonzarich G G, Vališka M, Grosche F M, Eaton A G
Department of Physics, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HE, United Kingdom.
Charles University, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Department of Condensed Matter Physics, Prague 2 121 16, Czech Republic.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 Sep 10;121(37):e2403067121. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2403067121. Epub 2024 Sep 6.
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.
非常规超导体UTe₂展现出许多自旋三重态超导的特征——这是一种罕见的物质状态,有望实现抵御退相干的量子计算。UTe₂具有复杂的相图,包括两个磁场诱导的超导相、向场极化态的变磁性转变,以及配对密度波序和电荷密度波序。然而,对不同质量的UTe₂样品进行的研究之间相互矛盾的报告,严重阻碍了理解这种奇异超导微观起源的理论研究。在此,我们报告了对一批高质量原始UTe₂晶体进行的一系列全面的高磁场测量。我们的实验揭示了在超清洁极限下显著修正的高磁场超导相图,表明场诱导超导对晶体无序的存在具有显著的敏感性。我们采用了一个金兹堡 - 朗道模型,该模型出色地捕捉了这种对样品质量的强烈依赖性。我们的结果表明,在接近场诱导变磁性转变时,被无序强烈抑制的磁涨落的增强作用,可能是在两个不同的自旋三重态超导相之间调节UTe₂的原因。