Orbital Fulde–Ferrell–Larkin–Ovchinnikov state in an Ising superconductor

Puhua Wan, Oleksandr Zheliuk, Noah F. Q. Yuan, Xiaoli Peng, Le Zhang, Minpeng Liang, Uli Zeitler, Steffen Wiedmann, Nigel E. Hussey, Thomas T. M. Palstra and Jianting Ye ()
Additional contact information
Puhua Wan: University of Groningen
Oleksandr Zheliuk: University of Groningen
Noah F. Q. Yuan: Harbin Institute of Technology
Xiaoli Peng: University of Groningen
Le Zhang: University of Groningen
Minpeng Liang: University of Groningen
Uli Zeitler: Radboud University
Steffen Wiedmann: Radboud University
Nigel E. Hussey: Radboud University
Thomas T. M. Palstra: University of Twente
Jianting Ye: University of Groningen

Nature, 2023, vol. 619, issue 7968, 46-51

Abstract: Abstract In superconductors possessing both time and inversion symmetries, the Zeeman effect of an external magnetic field can break the time-reversal symmetry, forming a conventional Fulde–Ferrell–Larkin–Ovchinnikov (FFLO) state characterized by Cooper pairings with finite momentum1,2. In superconductors lacking (local) inversion symmetry, the Zeeman effect may still act as the underlying mechanism of FFLO states by interacting with spin–orbit coupling (SOC). Specifically, the interplay between the Zeeman effect and Rashba SOC can lead to the formation of more accessible Rashba FFLO states that cover broader regions in the phase diagram3–5. However, when the Zeeman effect is suppressed because of spin locking in the presence of Ising-type SOC, the conventional FFLO scenarios are no longer effective. Instead, an unconventional FFLO state is formed by coupling the orbital effect of magnetic fields with SOC, providing an alternative mechanism in superconductors with broken inversion symmetries6–8. Here we report the discovery of such an orbital FFLO state in the multilayer Ising superconductor 2H-NbSe2. Transport measurements show that the translational and rotational symmetries are broken in the orbital FFLO state, providing the hallmark signatures of finite-momentum Cooper pairings. We establish the entire orbital FFLO phase diagram, consisting of a normal metal, a uniform Ising superconducting phase and a six-fold orbital FFLO state. This study highlights an alternative route to achieving finite-momentum superconductivity and provides a universal mechanism to preparing orbital FFLO states in similar materials with broken inversion symmetries.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-05967-z Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:619:y:2023:i:7968:d:10.1038_s41586-023-05967-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-05967-z

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().