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Journal article
Evidence for chiral superconductivity on a silicon surface
Nature physics, v 19(4), pp 500-506
Apr 2023
Abstract
Tin adatoms on a Si(111) substrate with a one-third monolayer coverage form a two-dimensional triangular lattice with one unpaired electron per site. These electrons order into an antiferromagnetic Mott-insulating state, but doping the Sn layer with holes creates a two-dimensional conductor that becomes superconducting at low temperatures. Although the pairing symmetry of the superconducting state is currently unknown, the combination of repulsive interactions and frustration inherent in the triangular adatom lattice opens up the possibility of a chiral order parameter. Here we study the superconducting state of Sn/Si(111) using scanning tunnelling microscopy, scanning tunnelling spectroscopy and quasiparticle interference imaging. We find evidence for a doping-dependent superconducting critical temperature with a fully gapped order parameter, the presence of time-reversal symmetry breaking and a strong enhancement in zero-bias conductance near the edges of the superconducting domains. Although each individual piece of evidence could have a more mundane interpretation, our combined results suggest the possibility that Sn/Si(111) is an unconventional chiral
d
-wave superconductor.
Adatoms on the surface of silicon can create two-dimensional superconductivity, the order parameter symmetry of which is currently not known. Now, evidence suggests it might be a topological chiral
d
-wave state.
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Details
- Title
- Evidence for chiral superconductivity on a silicon surface
- Creators
- F. Ming - Sun Yat-sen UniversityX. Wu - Department of Physics, Southern University of Science and Technology, School of Physical Sciences, Great Bay UniversityC. Chen - Department of Physics, Southern University of Science and TechnologyK. D. Wang - Southern University of Science and TechnologyP. Mai - Oak Ridge National LaboratoryT. A. Maier - Oak Ridge National LaboratoryJ. Strockoz - Drexel UniversityJ. W. F. Venderbos - Drexel University, Materials Science and EngineeringC. González - Universidad Complutense de MadridJ. Ortega - Autonomous University of MadridS. Johnston - University of Tennessee at KnoxvilleH. H. Weitering - Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Tennessee, Institute of Advanced Materials and Manufacturing, The University of Tennessee
- Publication Details
- Nature physics, v 19(4), pp 500-506
- Publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- Number of pages
- 7
- Grant note
- Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic 469 Research Foundation, Ref No. 2021A1515012034 Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through grants MAT2017-88258-R and CEX2018-000805-M Community of Madrid through the project NANOMAGCOST CM-PS2018/NMT-4321 12174456 / National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China) (https://doi.org/10.13039/501100001809) N00014-18-1-2675 / United States Department of Defense | United States Navy | Office of Naval Research (ONR) (https://doi.org/10.13039/100000006) Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (grants no. 2020B1515020009)
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Physics; Materials Science and Engineering
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000950225400006
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85147032678
- Other Identifier
- 991021861280004721
InCites Highlights
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Physics, Multidisciplinary