Unconventional superconductivity in chiral molecule-TaS2 hybrid superlattices

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Wan, Zhong; Qiu, Gang; Ren, Huaying; Qian, Qi; Li, Yaochen; Xu, Dong; Zhou, Jingyuan; Zhou, Jingxuan; Zhou, Boxuan; Wang, Laiyuan; Yang, Ting-Hsun; Sofer, Zdenek; Huang, Yu; Wang, Kang L.; Duan, Xiangfeng
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Los Angeles; University of California System; University of California Los Angeles; University of California System; University of California Los Angeles; University of Chemistry & Technology, Prague; University of California System; University of California Los Angeles; University of California System; University of California Los Angeles
• 刊物名称: Nature
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0028-4257
• DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07625-4
• 发表日期: 2024-08-01
• 页码: 69-+
• 关键词: symmetry; temperature; ORDER; flux

摘要

Chiral superconductors, a unique class of unconventional superconductors in which the complex superconducting order parameter winds clockwise or anticlockwise in the momentum space(1), represent a topologically non-trivial system with intrinsic time-reversal symmetry breaking (TRSB) and direct implications for topological quantum computing(2,3). Intrinsic chiral superconductors are extremely rare, with only a few arguable examples, including UTe2, UPt3 and Sr2RuO4 (refs. 4-7). It has been suggested that chiral superconductivity may exist in non-centrosymmetric superconductors(8,9), although such non-centrosymmetry is uncommon in typical solid-state superconductors. Alternatively, chiral molecules with neither mirror nor inversion symmetry have been widely investigated. We suggest that an incorporation of chiral molecules into conventional superconductor lattices could introduce non-centrosymmetry and help realize chiral superconductivity(10). Here we explore unconventional superconductivity in chiral molecule intercalated TaS2 hybrid superlattices. Our studies reveal an exceptionally large in-plane upper critical field B-c2,B-|| well beyond the Pauli paramagnetic limit, a robust p-phase shift in Little-Parks measurements and a field-free superconducting diode effect (SDE). These experimental signatures of unconventional superconductivity suggest that the intriguing interplay between crystalline atomic layers and the self-assembled chiral molecular layers may lead to exotic topological materials. Our study highlights that the hybrid superlattices could lay a versatile path to artificial quantum materials by combining a vast library of layered crystals of rich physical properties with the nearly infinite variations of molecules of designable structural motifs and functional groups(11).