2023/04/24 by Frank, Corey E., Lewin, Sylvia K., Salas, Gicela Saucedo +7 · 6 citations
#FOS: Physical sciences #Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el) #Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2304.12392
Reentrant superconductivity is a phenomenon in which the destructive effects of magnetic field on superconductivity are mitigated, allowing a zero-resistance state to survive under conditions that would otherwise destroy it. Typically, the reentrant superconducting region derives from a zero-field parent superconductor. Here, we show that in specifically-prepared UTe2 crystals, extremely large magnetic field gives rise to an unprecedented high field superconductor that lacks a zero-field parent phase. This orphan superconductivity exists at fields between 37 T and 52 T, over a smaller angular range than observed in superconducting UTe2. The stability of field-induced orphan superconductivity is a challenge to existing theoretical explanations, and underscores the likelihood of a field-induced modification of the electronic structure of UTe2.