Multicomponent odd-parity superconductivity in UAu2at high pressure

Christopher D. O'Neill, Julian L Schmehr, A. D. Huxley*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We report that high-quality single crystals of the hexagonal heavy fermion materialuranium diauride (UAu2) become superconducting at pressures above 3.2 GPa, thepressure at which an unusual antiferromagnetic state is suppressed. The antiferromag-netic state hosts a marginal fermi liquid and the pressure evolution of the resistivitywithin this state is found to be very different from that approaching a standard quantumphase transition. The superconductivity that appears above this transition survives inhigh magnetic fields with a large critical field for all field directions. The critical fieldalso has an unusual angle dependence suggesting that the superconductivity may havean order parameter with multiple components. An order parameter consistent withthese observations is predicted to host half-quantum vortices (HQVs). Such vorticescan be topologically entangled and have potential applications in quantum computing.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere2210235119
Pages (from-to)1-7
Number of pages7
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)
Volume119
Issue number51
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 14 Dec 2022

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