Revealing the Origin of Time-Reversal Symmetry Breaking in Fe-Chalcogenide Superconductor FeTe 1 - x Se x
Abstract
We report that recently evidence has emerged in the topological superconductor Fe-chalcogenide FeTe1-xSex for time-reversal symmetry breaking (TRSB), the nature of which has strong implications on the Majorana zero modes (MZM) discovered in this system. It remains unclear however whether the TRSB resides in the topological surface state (TSS) or in the bulk, and whether it is due to an unconventional TRSB superconducting order parameter or an intertwined order. Here by performing in superconducting FeTe1-xSex crystals both surface-magneto-optic-Kerr effect (SMOKE) measurements using a Sagnac interferometer and bulk magnetic susceptibility measurements, we pinpoint the TRSB to the TSS, where we also detect a Dirac gap. Further, we observe surface TRSB in non-superconducting FeTe1-xSex of nominally identical composition, indicating that TRSB arises from an intertwined surface ferromagnetic (FM) order. The observed surface FM bears striking similarities to the two-dimensional (2D) FM found in 2D van der Waals crystals, and is highly sensitive to the exact chemical composition, thereby providing a means for optimizing the conditions for Majorana particles that are useful for robust quantum computing.
- Authors:
-
- University of California, Irvine, CA (United States)
- Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Dept.
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF); Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1960163
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1916509
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-223900-2023-JAAM
Journal ID: ISSN 0031-9007; TRN: US2312942
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0012704; DMR-1807817; GBMF10276; DOE-sc0012704
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Physical Review Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 130; Journal Issue: 4; Journal ID: ISSN 0031-9007
- Publisher:
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; magnetism; superconductivity; topological materials
Citation Formats
Farhang, Camron, Zaki, Nader, Wang, Jingyuan, Gu, Genda, Johnson, Peter D., and Xia, Jing. Revealing the Origin of Time-Reversal Symmetry Breaking in Fe-Chalcogenide Superconductor FeTe1-xSex. United States: N. p., 2023.
Web. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.130.046702.
Farhang, Camron, Zaki, Nader, Wang, Jingyuan, Gu, Genda, Johnson, Peter D., & Xia, Jing. Revealing the Origin of Time-Reversal Symmetry Breaking in Fe-Chalcogenide Superconductor FeTe1-xSex. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.130.046702
Farhang, Camron, Zaki, Nader, Wang, Jingyuan, Gu, Genda, Johnson, Peter D., and Xia, Jing. Wed .
"Revealing the Origin of Time-Reversal Symmetry Breaking in Fe-Chalcogenide Superconductor FeTe1-xSex". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.130.046702. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1960163.
@article{osti_1960163,
title = {Revealing the Origin of Time-Reversal Symmetry Breaking in Fe-Chalcogenide Superconductor FeTe1-xSex},
author = {Farhang, Camron and Zaki, Nader and Wang, Jingyuan and Gu, Genda and Johnson, Peter D. and Xia, Jing},
abstractNote = {We report that recently evidence has emerged in the topological superconductor Fe-chalcogenide FeTe1-xSex for time-reversal symmetry breaking (TRSB), the nature of which has strong implications on the Majorana zero modes (MZM) discovered in this system. It remains unclear however whether the TRSB resides in the topological surface state (TSS) or in the bulk, and whether it is due to an unconventional TRSB superconducting order parameter or an intertwined order. Here by performing in superconducting FeTe1-xSex crystals both surface-magneto-optic-Kerr effect (SMOKE) measurements using a Sagnac interferometer and bulk magnetic susceptibility measurements, we pinpoint the TRSB to the TSS, where we also detect a Dirac gap. Further, we observe surface TRSB in non-superconducting FeTe1-xSex of nominally identical composition, indicating that TRSB arises from an intertwined surface ferromagnetic (FM) order. The observed surface FM bears striking similarities to the two-dimensional (2D) FM found in 2D van der Waals crystals, and is highly sensitive to the exact chemical composition, thereby providing a means for optimizing the conditions for Majorana particles that are useful for robust quantum computing.},
doi = {10.1103/physrevlett.130.046702},
journal = {Physical Review Letters},
number = 4,
volume = 130,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jan 25 00:00:00 EST 2023},
month = {Wed Jan 25 00:00:00 EST 2023}
}
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