Yoon Hyeok, Eo Yun Suk, Park Jihun, Horn Jarryd A, Dorman Ryan G, Saha Shanta R, Hayes Ian M, Takeuchi Ichiro, Brydon Philip M R, Paglione Johnpierre
Department of Physics, Maryland Quantum Materials Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD USA.
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD USA.
NPJ Quantum Mater. 2024;9(1):91. doi: 10.1038/s41535-024-00700-z. Epub 2024 Nov 15.
Uranium ditelluride (UTe) is the strongest contender to date for a -wave superconductor in bulk form. Here we perform a spectroscopic study of the ambient pressure superconducting phase of UTe, measuring conductance through point-contact junctions formed by metallic contacts on different crystalline facets down to 250 mK and up to 18 T. Fitting a range of qualitatively varying spectra with a Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk (BTK) model for -wave pairing, we can extract gap amplitude and interface barrier strength for each junction. We find good agreement with the data for a dominant -wave gap function with amplitude 0.26 ± 0.06 meV. Our work provides spectroscopic evidence for a gap structure consistent with the proposed spin-triplet pairing in the superconducting state of UTe.
二碲化铀（UTe）是迄今为止块状形式的s波超导体最有力的竞争者。在此，我们对UTe的常压超导相进行了光谱研究，通过由不同晶面上的金属接触形成的点接触结测量电导，温度低至250 mK，磁场高达18 T。用用于s波配对的布隆德 - 廷克汉姆 - 克拉普维克（BTK）模型拟合一系列性质不同的光谱，我们可以提取每个结的能隙幅度和界面势垒强度。我们发现，对于幅度为0.26±0.06 meV的主导s波能隙函数，数据与之吻合良好。我们的工作为与UTe超导态中所提出的自旋三重态配对相一致的能隙结构提供了光谱证据。
