Probing p -wave superconductivity in UTe 2 via point-contact junctions.

Authors :: Yoon H
Eo YS
Park J
Horn JA
Dorman RG
Saha SR
Hayes IM
Takeuchi I
Brydon PMR
Paglione J
Source :: Npj quantum materials [NPJ Quantum Mater] 2024; Vol. 9 (1), pp. 91. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Nov 15.
Publication Year :: 2024
Abstract: Uranium ditelluride (UTe <subscript>2</subscript> ) is the strongest contender to date for a p -wave superconductor in bulk form. Here we perform a spectroscopic study of the ambient pressure superconducting phase of UTe <subscript>2</subscript> , 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 p -wave pairing, we can extract gap amplitude and interface barrier strength for each junction. We find good agreement with the data for a dominant p <subscript> y </subscript> -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 <subscript>2</subscript> .<br />Competing Interests: Competing interestsThe authors declare no competing interests.<br /> (© The Author(s) 2024.)