journal article·2024-12Open access

Evidence for time-reversal symmetry-breaking kagome superconductivity

Hanbin Deng, Guowei Liu, Z. Guguchia, Tianyu Yang, Jinjin Liu, Zhiwei Wang, Yaofeng Xie, Sen Shao, Haiyang Ma, William Liège, Frédéric Bourdarot, Xiao-Yu Yan, Hailang Qin, C. Mielke, R. Khasanov, H. Luetkens, Xianxin Wu, Guoqing Chang, Jianpeng Liu, Morten Holm Christensen, Andreas Kreisel, Brian Møller Andersen, Wen Huang, Yue Zhao, Philippe Bourges, Yugui Yao, Pengcheng Dai, Jia-Xin Yin

Nature Materials· Volume 23· Issue 12

Abstract

Superconductivity and magnetism are often antagonistic in quantum matter, although their intertwining has long been considered in frustrated-lattice systems. Here we utilize scanning tunnelling microscopy and muon spin resonance to demonstrate time-reversal symmetry-breaking superconductivity in kagome metal Cs(V, Ta)3Sb5, where the Cooper pairing exhibits magnetism and is modulated by it. In the magnetic channel, we observe spontaneous internal magnetism in a fully gapped superconducting state. Under the perturbation of inverse magnetic fields, we detect a time-reversal asymmetrical interference of Bogoliubov quasi-particles at a circular vector. At this vector, the pairing gap spontaneously modulates, which is distinct from pair density waves occurring at a point vector and consistent with the theoretical proposal of an unusual interference effect under time-reversal symmetry breaking. The correlation between internal magnetism, Bogoliubov quasi-particles and pairing modulation provides a chain of experimental indications for time-reversal symmetry-breaking kagome superconductivity.
Source: europepmc · Quality: candidate unverified · Source record ↗

Research context

OpenAlex topics: Advanced Condensed Matter Physics · Topological Materials and Phenomena · Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

References (40)

Show source-provided references
1. Syôzi, I. Statistics of Kagomé lattice. Prog. Theor. Phys. 6, 306–308 (1951).10.1143/ptp/6.3.306 ↗
2. Broholm, C. et al. Quantum spin liquids. Science 367, eaay0668 (2020).10.1126/science.aay0668 ↗
3. Mielke, A. Ferromagnetic ground states for the Hubbard model on line graphs. J. Phys. A 24, L73 (1991).10.1088/0305-4470/24/2/005 ↗
4. Matthias, B. T., Suhl, H. & Corenzwit, E. Ferromagnetic superconductors. Phys. Rev. Lett. 1, 449–450 (1958).10.1103/PhysRevLett.1.449 ↗
5. Anderson, P. W. & Suhl, H. Spin alignment in the superconducting state. Phys. Rev. 116, 898–900 (1959).10.1103/PhysRev.116.898 ↗
6. Ko, W.-H., Lee, P. A. & Wen, X.-G. Doped kagome system as exotic superconductor. Phys. Rev. B 79, 214502 (2009).10.1103/PhysRevB.79.214502 ↗
7. Yin, J.-X., Lian, B. & Hasan, M. Z. Topological kagome magnets and superconductors. Nature 612, 647–657 (2022).10.1038/s41586-022-05516-0 ↗
8. Yu, F. H. et al. Concurrence of anomalous Hall effect and charge density wave in a superconducting topological kagome metal. Phys. Rev. B 104, L041103 (2021).10.1103/PhysRevB.104.L041103 ↗
9. Jiang, Y.-X. et al. Unconventional chiral charge order in kagome superconductor KV3Sb5. Nat. Mater. 20, 1353–1357 (2021).10.1038/s41563-021-01034-y ↗
10. Mielke, C. et al. Time-reversal symmetry-breaking charge order in a kagome superconductor. Nature 602, 245–250 (2022).10.1038/s41586-021-04327-z ↗
11. Guo, C. et al. Switchable chiral transport in charge-ordered kagome metal CsV3Sb5. Nature 611, 461–466 (2022).10.1038/s41586-022-05127-9 ↗
12. Xu, Y. et al. Three-state nematicity and magneto-optical Kerr effect in the charge density waves in kagome superconductors. Nat. Phys. 18, 1470–1475 (2022).10.1038/s41567-022-01805-7 ↗
13. Feng, X., Jiang, K., Wang, Z. & Hu, J. Chiral flux phase in the kagome superconductor AV3Sb5. Sci. Bull. 66, 1384–1388 (2021).10.1016/j.scib.2021.04.043 ↗
14. Gupta, R. et al. Two types of charge order with distinct interplay with superconductivity in the kagome material CsV3Sb5. Commun. Phys. 5, 232 (2022).10.1038/s42005-022-01011-0 ↗
15. Guguchia, Z. et al. Tunable unconventional kagome superconductivity in charge ordered RbV3Sb5 and KV3Sb5. Nat. Commun. 14, 153 (2023).10.1038/s41467-022-35718-z ↗
16. Ortiz, B. R. et al. CsV3Sb5: a Z2 topological kagome metal with a superconducting ground state. Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 247002 (2020).10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.247002 ↗
17. Zhong, Y. et al. Nodeless electron pairing in CsV3Sb5-derived kagome superconductors. Nature 617, 488–492 (2023).10.1038/s41586-023-05907-x ↗
18. Luo, Y. et al. A unique van Hove singularity in kagome superconductor CsV3−xTaxSb5 with enhanced superconductivity. Nat. Commun. 14, 3819 (2023).10.1038/s41467-023-39500-7 ↗
19. Guguchia, Z., Khasanov, R. & Luetkens, H. Unconventional charge order and superconductivity in kagome-lattice systems as seen by muon-spin rotation. npj Quantum Mater. 8, 41 (2023).10.1038/s41535-023-00574-7 ↗
20. Luke, G. M. et al. Time-reversal symmetry-breaking superconductivity in Sr2RuO4. Nature 394, 558–561 (1998).10.1038/29038 ↗
21. Hanaguri, T., Niitaka, S., Kuroki, K. & Takagi, H. Unconventional s-wave superconductivity in Fe(Se,Te). Science 328, 474–476 (2010).10.1126/science.1187399 ↗
22. Kohsaka, Y. et al. How Cooper pairs vanish approaching the Mott insulator in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ. Nature 454, 1072–1078 (2008).10.1038/nature07243 ↗
23. Zhu, Z. et al. Discovery of segmented Fermi surface induced by Cooper pair momentum. Science 374, 1381–1385 (2021).10.1126/science.abf1077 ↗
24. Wu, Y. et al. Nonreciprocal charge transport in topological kagome superconductor CsV3Sb5. npj Quantum Mater. 7, 105 (2022).10.1038/s41535-022-00516-9 ↗
25. Wang, Y. et al. Anisotropic proximity-induced superconductivity and edge supercurrent in kagome metal, K1−xV3Sb5. Sci. Adv. 9, eadg7269 (2023).10.1126/sciadv.adg7269 ↗
26. Le, T. et al. Superconducting diode effect and interference patterns in kagome CsV3Sb5. Nature 630, 64–69 (2024).10.1038/s41586-024-07431-y ↗
27. Yu, L. Bound state in superconductors with paramagnetic impurities. Acta Phys. Sin. 21, 75–91 (1965).10.7498/aps.21.75 ↗
28. Gao, Z.-Q., Lin, Y.-P. & Lee, D.-H. Pair-breaking scattering interference as a mechanism for superconducting gap modulation. Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.06024v1 (2023).
29. Gu, Q. et al. Detection of a pair density wave state in UTe2. Nature 618, 921–927 (2023).10.1038/s41586-023-05919-7 ↗
30. Chen, H. et al. Roton pair density wave in a strong-coupling kagome superconductor. Nature 599, 222–228 (2021).10.1038/s41586-021-03983-5 ↗
31. Yu, S.-L. & Li, J.-X. Chiral superconducting phase and chiral spin-density-wave phase in a Hubbard model on the kagome lattice. Phys. Rev. B 85, 144402 (2012).10.1103/PhysRevB.85.144402 ↗
32. Kiesel, M. L. & Thomale, R. Sublattice interference in the kagome Hubbard model. Phys. Rev. B 86, 121105 (2012).10.1103/PhysRevB.86.121105 ↗
33. Wang, W.-S., Li, Z.-Z., Xiang, Y.-Y. & Wang, Q.-H. Competing electronic orders on kagome lattices at van Hove filling. Phys. Rev. B 87, 115135 (2013).10.1103/PhysRevB.87.115135 ↗
34. Wu, X. et al. Nature of unconventional pairing in the kagome superconductors AV3Sb5 (A = K, Rb, Cs). Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 177001 (2021).10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.177001 ↗
35. Tazai, R., Yamakawa, Y., Onari, S. & Kontani, H. Mechanism of exotic density-wave and beyond-Migdal unconventional superconductivity in kagome metal AV3Sb5 (A = K, Rb, Cs). Sci. Adv. 8, eabl4108 (2022).10.1126/sciadv.abl4108 ↗
36. Rømer, A. T., Bhattacharyya, S., Valentí, R., Christensen, M. H. & Andersen, B. M. Superconductivity from repulsive interactions on the kagome lattice. Phys. Rev. B 106, 174514 (2022).10.1103/PhysRevB.106.174514 ↗
37. Jeong, M. Y. et al. Crucial role of out-of-plane Sb p orbitals in Van Hove singularity formation and electronic correlations in the superconducting kagome metal CsV3Sb5. Phys. Rev. B 105, 235145 (2022).10.1103/PhysRevB.105.235145 ↗
38. Li, H. et al. Discovery of conjoined charge density waves in the kagome superconductor CsV3Sb5. Nat. Commun. 13, 6348 (2022).10.1038/s41467-022-33995-2 ↗
39. Han, S. et al. Orbital-hybridization-driven charge density wave transition in CsV3Sb5 kagome superconductor. Adv. Mater. 35, 2209010 (2023).10.1002/adma.202209010 ↗
40. Ritz, E. T., Fernandes, R. M. & Birol, T. Impact of Sb degrees of freedom on the charge density wave phase diagram of the kagome metal CsV3Sb5. Phys. Rev. B 107, 205131 (2023).10.1103/PhysRevB.107.205131 ↗