Spectroscopic evidence of symmetry breaking in the superconducting vortices of UTe₂.

ABSTRACT: The recently discovered heavy-fermion superconductor, UTe2, is an excellent candidate for spin-triplet superconductors in which electrons form spin-triplet Cooper pairs with spin S = 1 and odd parity. Unconventional superconductivity often hosts unconventional vortices. Yet, the vortex core and lattice in UTe2 have not been directly visualized and characterized. Here, by using ultralow-temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy, we study the superconducting vortices on the (0-11) surface termination of UTe2 with an out-of-plane external magnetic field. At the centre of the vortex core, we observe a robust zero-energy vortex-core state that exhibits a cigar-shaped spatial distribution and extends to ∼30 nm along the [100] direction (crystallographic a-axis) of UTe2. Along t

SUBMITTER: Yang Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12365754 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature