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Beyond triplet: Unconventional superconductivity in a spin-3/2 topological semimetal

Journal Article · · Science Advances
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [7];  [2]
  1. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States); Ames Lab., Ames, IA (United States)
  2. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
  3. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States); Univ. of Central Florida, Orlando, FL (United States)
  4. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source (ALS)
  5. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States); Univ. of Otago, Dunedin (New Zealand)
  6. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
  7. Ames Lab., Ames, IA (United States)
In all known fermionic super fluids, Cooper pairs are composed of spin-1/2 quasi-particles that pair to form either spin-singlet or spin-triplet bound states. The "spin" of a Bloch electron, however, is xed by the symmetries of the crystal and the atomic orbitals from which it is derived, and in some cases can behave as if it were a spin-3/2 particle. The superconducting state of such a system allows pairing beyond spin-triplet, with higher spin quasi-particles combining to form quintet or even septet pairs. Here, we report evidence of unconventional superconductivity emerging from a spin-3/2 quasiparticle electronic structure in the half-Heusler semimetal YPtBi, a low-carrier density noncentrosymmetric cubic material with a high symmetry that preserves the p-like j = 3/2 manifold in the Bi-based Γ8 band in the presence of strong spin-orbit coupling. With a striking linear temperature dependence of the London penetration depth, the existence of line nodes in the superconducting order parameter Δ is directly explained by a mixed-parity Cooper pairing model with high total angular momentum, consistent with a high-spin fermionic super fluid state. We propose a k ∙ p model of the j = 3/2 fermions to explain how a dominant J=3 septet pairing state is the simplest solution that naturally produces nodes in the mixed even-odd parity gap. Together with the underlying topologically non-trivial band structure, the unconventional pairing in this system represents a truly novel form of super fluidity that has strong potential for leading the development of a new generation of topological superconductors.
Research Organization:
Ames Laboratory (AMES), Ames, IA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0010605; AC02-07CH11358; AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1433652
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1460308
Report Number(s):
IS--J 9234
Journal Information:
Science Advances, Journal Name: Science Advances Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 4; ISSN 2375-2548
Publisher:
AAASCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (30)

On the Fisk–Tait equation for spin-3/2 fermions interacting with an external magnetic field in noncommutative space-time journal January 2020
Structure and superconductivity in the binary Re$_{1-x}$Mo$_x$ alloys text January 2019
Tunnel diode resonator for precision magnetic susceptibility measurements in a mK temperature range and large DC magnetic fields journal September 2018
Heusler interfaces—Opportunities beyond spintronics? journal August 2019
Semilocal exchange-correlation potentials for solid-state calculations: Current status and future directions journal September 2019
Emergence of intrinsic superconductivity below 1.178 K in the topologically non-trivial semimetal state of CaSn 3 journal April 2019
Topological d + s wave superconductors in a multiorbital quadratic band touching system journal August 2019
Dielectric and electronic properties of three-dimensional Luttinger semimetals with a quadratic band touching journal August 2019
Superconductivity with strong electron-phonon coupling in noncentrosymmetric W 3 Al 2 C journal September 2019
Ground state of the three-dimensional BCS d -wave superconductor journal September 2019
Weak antilocalization within a genuine multiband model journal September 2019
Antilocalization in oxides: Effective spin- 3 2 model journal September 2019
Bogoliubov Fermi surfaces stabilized by spin-orbit coupling journal December 2019
Experimental consequences of Bogoliubov Fermi surfaces journal January 2020
Interacting Majorana modes at surfaces of noncentrosymmetric superconductors journal January 2020
Robustness of unconventional s -wave superconducting states against disorder journal February 2020
Tailoring T c by symmetry principles: The concept of superconducting fitness journal July 2018
Singlet-quintet mixing in spin-orbit coupled superconductors with j = 3 2 fermions journal September 2018
Weak-pairing higher order topological superconductors journal October 2018
Bogoliubov Fermi surfaces: General theory, magnetic order, and topology journal December 2018
Evidence for unconventional superconductivity in half-Heusler YPdBi and TbPdBi compounds revealed by London penetration depth measurements journal December 2018
Topological superconductivity of spin- 3 / 2 carriers in a three-dimensional doped Luttinger semimetal journal February 2019
Optical response of Luttinger semimetals in the normal and superconducting states journal March 2019
Angular dependence of the upper critical field in the high-pressure 1 T ′ phase of MoTe 2 journal March 2019
Tailoring $T_c$ by symmetry principles: The concept of Superconducting Fitness text January 2018
Weak-Pairing Higher Order Topological Superconductors text January 2018
Bogoliubov Fermi surfaces: General theory, magnetic order, and topology text January 2018
Emergence of intrinsic superconductivity below 1.178 K in the topologically non-trivial semimetal state of CaSn3 text January 2018
Dielectric and electronic properties of three-dimensional Luttinger semimetals with a quadratic band touching text January 2019
Experimental consequences of Bogoliubov Fermi surfaces text January 2019

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