1. Unconventional gapping behavior in a kagome superconductor
- Author
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Hossain, Md Shafayat, Zhang, Qi, Choi, Eun Sang, Ratkovski, Danilo, Lüscher, Bernhard, Li, Yongkai, Jiang, Yu-Xiao, Litskevich, Maksim, Cheng, Zi-Jia, Yin, Jia-Xin, Cochran, Tyler A., Casas, Brian, Kim, Byunghoon, Yang, Xian, Liu, Jinjin, Yao, Yugui, Bangura, Ali, Wang, Zhiwei, Fischer, Mark H., Neupert, Titus, Balicas, Luis, and Hasan, M. Zahid
- Subjects
Condensed Matter - Strongly Correlated Electrons ,Condensed Matter - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics ,Condensed Matter - Materials Science ,Condensed Matter - Superconductivity - Abstract
Determining the types of superconducting order in quantum materials is a challenge, especially when multiple degrees of freedom, such as bands or orbitals, contribute to the fermiology and when superconductivity competes, intertwines, or coexists with other symmetry-breaking orders. Here, we study the Kagome-lattice superconductor CsV3Sb5, in which multiband superconductivity coexists with a charge order that substantially reduces the compound's space group symmetries. Through a combination of thermodynamic as well as electrical and thermal transport measurements, we uncover two superconducting regimes with distinct transport and thermodynamic characteristics, while finding no evidence for a phase transition separating them. Thermodynamic measurements reveal substantial quasiparticle weight in a high-temperature regime. At lower temperatures, this weight is removed via the formation of a second gap. The two regimes are sharply distinguished by a pronounced enhancement of the upper critical field at low temperatures and by a switch in the anisotropy of the longitudinal thermal conductivity as a function of in-plane magnetic field orientation. We argue that the band with a gap opening at lower temperatures continues to host low-energy quasiparticles, possibly due to a nodal structure of the gap. Taken together, our results present evidence for band-selective superconductivity with remarkable decoupling of the (two) superconducting gaps. The commonly employed multiband scenario, whereby superconductivity emerges in a primary band and is then induced in other bands appears to fail in this unconventional kagome superconductor. Instead, band-selective superconducting pairing is a paradigm that seems to unify seemingly contradicting results in this intensely studied family of materials and beyond., Comment: Nature Physics (2024); in press
- Published
- 2024