Probing <i>p</i>-wave superconductivity in UTe₂ via point-contact junctions.

ABSTRACT: Uranium ditelluride (UTe₂) 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 UTe₂, 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 _y -wave gap function with amplitude 0.26 ± 0.06 meV. Our work provides spectroscopic evidence for a gap structure consistent with the proposed spin-tri

SUBMITTER: Yoon H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11567886 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature