Pair wave function symmetry in UTe2 from zero-energy surface state visualization
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Supplementary Material
Date
2025-05-29
Authors
Gu, Qiangqiang
Wang, Shuqiu
Carroll, Joseph P.
Zhussupbekov, Kuanysh
Broyles, Christopher
Ran, Sheng
Butch, Nicholas P.
Horn, Jarryd A.
Saha, Shanta
Paglione, Johnpierre
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Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science
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Abstract
Although nodal spin-triplet topological superconductivity appears probable in uranium ditelluride (UTe2), its superconductive order parameter Δk remains unestablished. In theory, a distinctive identifier would be the existence of a superconductive topological surface band, which could facilitate zero-energy Andreev tunneling to an s-wave superconductor and also distinguish a chiral from a nonchiral Δk through enhanced s-wave proximity. In this study, we used s-wave superconductive scan tips and detected intense zero-energy Andreev conductance at the UTe2 (0-11) termination surface. Imaging revealed subgap quasiparticle scattering interference signatures with a-axis orientation. The observed zero-energy Andreev peak splitting with enhanced s-wave proximity signifies that Δk of UTe2 is a nonchiral state: B1u, B2u, or B3u. However, if the quasiparticle scattering along the a axis is internodal, then a nonchiral B3u state is the most consistent for UTe2.
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Keywords
Uranium ditelluride (UTe2) , Superconductive order parameter Δk , Pair wave function symmetry
Citation
Gu, Q., Wang, S., Carroll, J. P., Zhussupbekov, K., Broyles, C., Ran, S., Butch, N. P., Horn, J. A., Saha, S., Paglione, J. and Liu, X. (2025) 'Pair wave function symmetry in UTe2 from zero-energy surface state visualization', Science, 388(6750), pp.938-944. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adk7219
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© 2025, the Authors. Published under license by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.