Signatures of Chiral Superconductivity in Chiral Molecule Intercalated Tantalum Disulfide
arXiv:2302.05078
Abstract
Chiral superconductors, a unique class of unconventional superconductors in which the complex superconducting order parameter winds clockwise or counter-clockwise in the momentum space, represent a topologically non-trivial system with direct implications for topological quantum computing. Intrinsic chiral superconductors are extremely rare, with only a few arguable examples including heavy fermion metals (UTe, UPt) and perovskite superconductor SrRuO. Chiral molecules with neither mirror nor inversion symmetry have been widely investigated, in which the spin degeneracy may be lifted by the molecular chirality. Thus, a combination of superconductivity with chiral molecules may lead to a spin-polarized ground state for realizing chiral superconductivity. Herein we report the first investigation of unconventional superconductivity in chiral molecule intercalated tantalum disulfide (TaS) and reveal key signatures of chiral superconductivity. Little-Parks measurements demonstrate a robust and reproducible half-flux quantum phase shift in both left- and right-handed chiral molecule intercalated TaS, which is absent in pristine TaS or achiral molecule intercalated TaS, highlighting the essential role of molecular chirality in inducing unconventional superconductivity. The robust half-flux quantum phase shift demonstrates unconventional superconductivity and constitutes strong evidence supporting a chiral superconducting ordering parameter. Critical current measurements at lower temperature reveal a peculiar asymmetric phase shift under opposite supercurrent, with a relative phase difference approaching the unity of π at below 0.5 K, further supporting topologically non-trivial superconductivity. Our study signifies the potential of hybrid superlattices with intriguing coupling between the crystalline atomic layers and the self-assembled molecular layers.
22 Pages, 5 figures, 6 Extended Data figures