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Anomalous normal fluid response in a chiral superconductor UTe2

Seokjin Bae, Hyunsoo Kim, Yun Suk Eo, Sheng Ran, I-lin Liu, Wesley T. Fuhrman, Johnpierre Paglione, Nicholas P. Butch, Steven M. Anlage

2021Nature Communications66 citationsDOIOpen Access PDF

Abstract

Abstract Chiral superconductors have been proposed as one pathway to realize Majorana normal fluid at its boundary. However, the long-sought 2D and 3D chiral superconductors with edge and surface Majorana normal fluid are yet to be conclusively found. Here, we report evidence for a chiral spin-triplet pairing state of UTe 2 with surface normal fluid response. The microwave surface impedance of the UTe 2 crystal was measured and converted to complex conductivity, which is sensitive to both normal and superfluid responses. The anomalous residual normal fluid conductivity supports the presence of a significant normal fluid response. The superfluid conductivity follows the temperature behavior predicted for an axial spin-triplet state, which is further narrowed down to a chiral spin-triplet state with evidence of broken time-reversal symmetry. Further analysis excludes trivial origins for the observed normal fluid response. Our findings suggest that UTe 2 can be a new platform to study exotic topological excitations in higher dimension.

Topics & Concepts

MAJORANASuperfluidityPairingSuperconductivityCondensed matter physicsPhysicsConductivityQuantum fluidLiquid crystalEnhanced Data Rates for GSM EvolutionSurface (topology)Normal modeTwo-fluid modelElectrical resistivity and conductivityCoupling (piping)Chirality (physics)MicrowaveTopological Materials and PhenomenaRare-earth and actinide compoundsAdvanced Condensed Matter Physics
Anomalous normal fluid response in a chiral superconductor UTe2 | Litcius