Probing -wave superconductivity in UTe via point-contact junctions.

Uranium ditelluride (UTe) is the strongest contender to date for a -wave superconductor in bulk form. Here we perform a spectroscopic study of the ambient pressure superconducting phase of UTe, 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 -wave pairing, we can extract gap amplitude and interface barrier strength for each junction.

Enhancement and reentrance of spin triplet superconductivity in UTe under pressure.

Spin triplet superconductivity in the Kondo lattice UTe appears to be associated with spin fluctuations originating from incipient ferromagnetic order. Here we show clear evidence of twofold enhancement of superconductivity under pressure, which discontinuously transitions to magnetic order, likely of ferromagnetic nature, at higher pressures. The application of a magnetic field tunes the system back across a first-order phase boundary.

Point-node gap structure of the spin-triplet superconductor UTe.

Low-temperature electrical and thermal transport, magnetic penetration depth, and heat capacity measurements were performed on single crystals of the actinide superconductor UTe to determine the structure of the superconducting energy gap. Heat transport measurements performed with currents directed along both crystallographic and axes reveal a vanishingly small residual fermionic component of the thermal conductivity. The magnetic field dependence of the residual term follows a rapid, quasilinear increase consistent with the presence of nodal quasiparticles, rising toward the -axis upper critical field where the Wiedemann-Franz law is recovered.

Transport gap in SmB protected against disorder.

The inverted resistance method was used in this study to extend the bulk resistivity of [Formula: see text] to a regime where the surface conduction overwhelms the bulk. Remarkably, regardless of the large off-stoichiometric growth conditions (inducing disorder by samarium vacancies, boron interstitials, etc.), the bulk resistivity shows an intrinsic thermally activated behavior that changes ∼7-10 orders of magnitude, suggesting that [Formula: see text] is an ideal insulator that is immune to disorder.

Extreme magnetic field-boosted superconductivity.

Applied magnetic fields underlie exotic quantum states, such as the fractional quantum Hall effect and Bose-Einstein condensation of spin excitations. Superconductivity, however, is inherently antagonistic towards magnetic fields. Only in rare cases can these effects be mitigated over limited fields, leading to re-entrant superconductivity.