Reentrant Superconductivity Research Articles

Superconducting Correlations in the One-Dimensional Kondo Lattice Models under Magnetic Fields

We analyze superconducting correlations in the one-dimensional Kondo lattice models with Ising anisotropy under transverse magnetic fields, using the density matrix renormalization group. For the spin-1/2 local spin model, the Ising anisotropy is introduced by the ferromagnetic Ising interaction between the local spins, while for the spin-1 model, it is taken by the single-ion anisotropy. The magnetic properties under the transverse fields for the spin-1/2 model are very similar to those for the spin-1 model [K. Suzuki and K. Hattori, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 88, 024707 (2019).]. For the superconducting correlations, we analyze various Cooper pairs within nearest-neighbor pairs including composite ones between the local spins and the electrons. We find that, for the spin-1/2 model, the superconducting correlations are highly enhanced in the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid state near the Kondo-plateau phase, where the conduction electrons and the local spins are strongly coupled with a finite spin gap for the Ising axis. This is a clear contrast to the model under the longitudinal magnetic fields, where there are no noticeable superconducting correlations. Competitions between the transverse magnetic field and the Kondo singlet formation lead to this enhanced superconducting correlations. For the spin-1 model, the single-ion anisotropy suppresses the superconducting correlation and there is no noticeable enhancement. We also examine the large Kondo exchange coupling limit. For the moderate ferromagnetic Ising interaction between the local spins, we find that another type of superconducting correlation is enhanced inside the ferromagnetic phase. We discuss a possible relation between our results and reentrant superconductivity in U-based ferromagnetic superconductors under transverse magnetic fields.

Critical field behavior of a multiply connected superconductor in a tilted magnetic field

We report magnetotransport measurements of the critical field behavior of thin Al films deposited onto multiply connected substrates. The substrates were fabricated via a standard electrochemical process that produced a triangular array of 66 nm diameter holes having a lattice constant of 100 nm. The critical field transition of the Al films was measured near $T_c$ as a function of field orientation relative to the substrate normal. With the field oriented along the normal ($\theta=0$), we observe reentrant superconductivity at a characteristic matching field $H_m=0.22\,\mathrm{T}$, corresponding to one flux quantum per hole. In tilted fields, the position $H^*$ of the reentrance feature increases as $\sec(\theta)$, but the resistivity traces are somewhat more complex than those of a continuous superconducting film. We show that when the tilt angle is tuned such that $H^*$ is of the order of the upper critical field $H_c$, the entire critical region is dominated by the enhanced dissipation associated with a sub-matching perpendicular component of the applied field. At higher tilt angles a local maximum in the critical field is observed when the perpendicular component of the field is equal to the matching field.

Extreme magnetic field-boosted superconductivity.

Applied magnetic fields underlie exotic quantum states, such as the fractional quantum Hall effect1 and Bose-Einstein condensation of spin excitations2. Superconductivity, however, is inherently antagonistic towards magnetic fields. Only in rare cases3-5 can these effects be mitigated over limited fields, leading to re-entrant superconductivity. Here, we report the coexistence of multiple high-field re-entrant superconducting phases in the spin-triplet superconductor UTe2 (ref. 6). We observe superconductivity in the highest magnetic field range identified for any re-entrant superconductor, beyond 65 T. Although the stability of superconductivity in these high magnetic fields challenges current theoretical models, these extreme properties seem to reflect a new kind of exotic superconductivity rooted in magnetic fluctuations7 and boosted by a quantum dimensional crossover8.

Charge localization and reentrant superconductivity in a quasi-ballistic InAs nanowire coupled to superconductors.

A semiconductor nanowire with strong spin-orbit coupling in proximity to a superconductor is predicted to display Majorana edge states emerging under a properly oriented magnetic field. The experimental investigation of these exotic states requires assessing the one-dimensional (1D) character of the nanowire and understanding the superconducting proximity effect in the presence of a magnetic field. Here, we explore the quasi-ballistic 1D transport regime of an InAs nanowire with Ta contacts. Fine-tuned by means of local gates, the observed plateaus of approximately quantized conductance hide the presence of a localized electron, giving rise to a lurking Coulomb blockade effect and Kondo physics. When Ta becomes superconducting, this local charge causes an unusual, reentrant magnetic field dependence of the supercurrent, which we ascribe to a 0 - π transition. Our results underline the relevant role of unintentional charge localization in the few-channel regime where helical subbands and Majorana quasi-particles are expected to arise.

Magnetic-Field-Induced Phenomena in the Paramagnetic Superconductor UTe2

We present magnetoresistivity measurements on the heavy-fermion superconductor UTe$_{2}$ in pulsed magnetic fields $\mu_0H$ up to 68~T and temperatures $T$ from 1.4 to 80~K. Magnetic fields applied along the three crystallographic directions $\mathbf{a}$ (easy magnetic axis), $\mathbf{b}$, and $\mathbf{c}$ (hard magnetic axes), are found to induce different phenomena - depending on the field direction - beyond the low-field suppression of the superconducting state. For $\mathbf{H}\parallel\mathbf{a}$, a broad anomaly in the resistivity is observed at $\mu_0H^*\simeq10$~T and $T = 1.4$~K. For $\mathbf{H}\parallel\mathbf{c}$, no magnetic transition nor crossover are observed. For $\mathbf{H}\parallel\mathbf{b}$, a sharp first-order-like step in the resistivity indicates a metamagnetic transition at the field $\mu_0H_m \simeq 35$~T. When the temperature is raised signature of first-order metamagnetism is observed up to a critical endpoint at $T_{CEP}\simeq7$~K. At higher temperatures a crossover persists up to 28~K, i.e., below the temperature $T_\chi^{max} = 35$~K where the magnetic susceptibility is maximal. A sharp maximum in the Fermi-liquid quadratic coefficient $A$ of the low-temperature resistivity is found at $H_m$. It indicates an enhanced effective mass associated with critical magnetic fluctuations, possibly coupled with a Fermi surface instability. Similarly to the URhGe case, we show that UTe$_{2}$ is a candidate for field-induced reentrant superconductivity in the proximity of $H_m$.

Tuning from failed superconductor to failed insulator with magnetic field.

Do charge modulations compete with electron pairing in high-temperature copper oxide superconductors? We investigated this question by suppressing superconductivity in a stripe-ordered cuprate compound at low temperature with high magnetic fields. With increasing field, loss of three-dimensional superconducting order is followed by reentrant two-dimensional superconductivity and then an ultraquantum metal phase. Circumstantial evidence suggests that the latter state is bosonic and associated with the charge stripes. These results provide experimental support to the theoretical perspective that local segregation of doped holes and antiferromagnetic spin correlations underlies the electron-pairing mechanism in cuprates.

Reentrant Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov state in small-sized superconductors

We study the effect of a parallel magnetic field in a thin and small superconductor. The field suppresses superconductivity through Zeeman coupling while stabilizes the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) state at high fields before superconductivity is destroyed. When the spatial period of FFLO state is comparable to the size of the superconductor, there is a strong commensuration effect, which modifies the superconducting phase diagram. We investigate the FFLO state and the phase diagram in the presence of strong commensuration effect both for the $s$-wave and $d$-wave superconductors using the Bogoliubov de Gennes equation, Green function approach, and Ginzburg-Landau theory. We found that the superconducting phase diagram is strongly modulated. Interestingly, there is re-entrance of superconductivity upon increasing the magnetic field. The commensuration effect of the FFLO state can be used to detect the FFLO state in experiments.

Review of U-based Ferromagnetic Superconductors: Comparison between UGe2, URhGe, and UCoGe

The discovery in 2000 that the ferromagnetic (FM) compound UGe2 (T_Curie = 52 K at ambient pressure) becomes superconducting under a pressure of P = 1.1 GPa until it enters the paramagnetic (PM) phase above Pc = 1.6 GPa was a surprise. Successive searches for new materials (URhGe and UCoGe) led to the discovery of the coexistence of superconductivity (SC) and ferromagnetism at ambient pressure. Furthermore in UCoGe, it was found that SC survives in the PM regime from P_c = 1.1 to 4 GPa. Focus has been on low-temperature experiments under extreme conditions of magnetic field (H), pressure, and uniaxial stress. In UGe2, strong interplay exists between Fermi surface (FS) reconstructions in the cascade of different FM and PM ground states and their magnetic fluctuations. Similar phenomena occur in URhGe and UCoGe but, at first glance, the SC seems to be driven by the FM fluctuations. In UCoGe, a longitudinal field scan leads to a drastic decrease in the FM fluctuations, while a transverse field scan leads to suppression of the Curie temperature, T_Curie; the consequence is a boost in FM fluctuations, leading to a reinforcement of SC. The singularity in URhGe is the weakness of the anisotropy between c- and b-axes; the most noteworthy feature is the detection of reentrant SC near H_R. All the experimental results give evidence that the SC in these three materials originates from the FM fluctuations, which are amplitude modes of magnetic excitations in the FM state. Spin-triplet pairing has been anticipated in the FM superconductors and was actually observed by Knight-shift measurements in the SC state of UCoGe. Their fascinating (p, T, H) phase diagrams are now well established. Discussion is presented on how different theoretical approaches can describe the various phenomena discovered by experimentalists.

Electronic phases in twisted bilayer graphene at magic angles as a result of Van Hove singularities and interactions

The discovery of different phases as a result of correlations, especially in low-dimensional materials, has been always an exciting and fundamental subject of research. Recent experiments on twisted bilayer graphene have revealed reentrant unconventional superconductivity as a function of doping as well as a Mott-like insulating phase when the two layers are twisted with respect to each other at certain "magic" angles for doping corresponding to two particles per moire unit cell. In this work we propose a microscopic model that takes into account interactions and the van Hove singularities in the density of states of the twisted bilayer graphene at doping corresponding to one particle ($\nu$ =1) per moir\'{e} unit cell and study how superconductivity emerges. We identify the possible symmetry of the order parameter as $s^{\pm}$, while if the inter-valley coupling is negligible the symmetry is $s^{++}$. In addition, we find and characterise the insulating region of the system, as a region with a uniform charge instability where there is coexistence of the metallic and insulating phases.

Effects of Lifshitz Transitions in Ferromagnetic Superconductors: The Case of URhGe.

In ferromagnetic superconductors, like URhGe, superconductivity coexists with magnetism near zero field, but then reappears in a finite field range, where the system also displays mass enhancement in the normal state. We present the theoretical understanding of this nonmonotonic behavior. We explore the multiband nature of URhGe and associate reentrant superconductivity and mass enhancement with the topological transition (Lifshitz) in one of the bands in a finite magnetic field. We find excellent agreement between our theory and a number of experimental results for URhGe, such as weakly first-order reentrant transition, the dependence of superconducting T_{c} on a magnetic field, and the field dependence of the effective mass, the specific heat, and the resistivity in the normal state. Our theory can be applied to other ferromagnetic multiband superconductors.

Inverse proximity effect in semiconductor Majorana nanowires.

We study the influence of the inverse proximity effect on the superconductivity nucleation in hybrid structures consisting of semiconducting nanowires placed in contact with a thin superconducting film and discuss the resulting restrictions on the operation of Majorana-based devices. A strong paramagnetic effect for electrons entering the semiconductor together with spin–orbit coupling and van Hove singularities in the electronic density of states in the wire are responsible for the suppression of superconducting correlations in the low-field domain and for the reentrant superconductivity at high magnetic fields in the topologically nontrivial regime. The growth of the critical temperature in the latter case continues up to the upper critical field destroying the pairing inside the superconducting film due to either orbital or paramagnetic mechanism. The suppression of the homogeneous superconducting state near the boundary between the topological and non-topological regimes provides the conditions favorable for the Fulde–Ferrel–Larkin–Ovchinnikov instability.

Superconducting critical temperature and upper magnetic field in Weyl semimetal.

The influence of recently discovered topological transition between type I and type II Weyl semi-metals on superconductivity is considered. A set of Gorkov equations for weak superconductivity in Weyl semi-metal under topological phase transition is derived and solved. The critical temperature has spike in the point the transition point as function of the tilt parameter of the Dirac cone determined in turn by the material parameters like pressure. The second critical magnetic field is calculated for phase I. It shows narrow domains of reentrant superconductivity associated with Landau quantization relativistic 2D electron gas.

Mössbauer study of Eu0.57Ca0.43Fe2As2 and Eu0.73Ca0.27(Fe0.87Co0.13)2As2: A comparison to ‘122’ iron-based superconductors parent compounds EuFe2As2 and CaFe2As2

57Fe and 151Eu Mössbauer spectra were obtained versus temperature for Eu0.57Ca0.43Fe2As2 compound with 3d and 4f magnetic order and Eu0.73Ca0.27(Fe0.87Co0.13)2As2 re-entrant superconductor, where the finite resistivity reappears while approaching the ground state. They were compared with previously obtained spectra for parent compounds EuFe2As2 and CaFe2As2. It was found that substitution beyond the Fe-As layers does not lead to the rotation (canting) of the Eu2+ magnetic moments and does not generate Eu3+ states. On the other hand, re-entrant superconductor exhibits rotation (canting) of the Eu2+ moments on the c-axis of the unit cell leading to the transferred hyperfine magnetic field on iron nuclei. Divalent europium orders magnetically within the bulk of the re-entrant superconducting phase. The re-entrant superconductor remains in the inhomogeneous state close to the ground state with about 27% of the volume being free of 3d magnetism, while the remainder exhibits weak spin density wave. Those two regions slightly differ by the electric field gradient and electron density on iron nuclei.

Band structure and Fermi surfaces of the reentrant ferromagnetic superconductor Eu(Fe0.86Ir0.14)2As2

The electronic structure of the reentrant superconductor Eu(Fe$_{0.86}$Ir$_{0.14}$)$_{2}$As$_{2}$ (T$_c$ = 22 K) with coexisting ferromagnetic order (T$_M$ = 18 K) is investigated using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS). We study the in-plane and out-of-plane band dispersions and Fermi surface (FS) of Eu(Fe$_{0.86}$Ir$_{0.14}$)$_{2}$As$_{2}$. The near E$_F$ Fe 3d-derived band dispersions near the $\Gamma$ and X high-symmetry points show changes due to Ir substitution, but the FS topology is preserved. From momentum dependent measurements of the superconducting gap measured at T = 5 K, we estimate an essentially isotropic s-wave gap ($\Delta\sim5.25\pm 0.25$ meV), indicative of strong-coupling superconductivity with 2$\Delta$/k$_{B}$T$_{c}\simeq$ 5.8. The gap gets closed at temperatures T $\geq$ 10 K, and this is attributed to the resistive phase which sets in at T$_M$ = 18 K due to the Eu$^{2+}$-derived magnetic order. The modifications of the FS with Ir substitution clearly indicates an effective hole doping with respect to the parent compound.

Field-induced reentrant superconductivity driven by quantum tricritical fluctuations in URhGe

We review our 59Co NMR study in a URhGe single crystal doped with 10% cobalt. The spin-spin relaxation time (T2) measurements have revealed a divergence of electronic spin fluctuations in the vicinity of a field-induced tricritical point (TCP) locating around 13T. The fluctuations is developed in the same limited field region around the TCP as that where a reentrant superconductivity (RSC) is observed in URhGe. The finding strongly suggests these quantum fluctuations as the pairing glue responsible for the RSC.

Superconductivity in the ferromagnet URhGe under uniaxial pressure

Uniaxial pressure applied in the b crystallographic direction perpendicular to spontaneous magnetization in heavy fermion ferromagnet URhGe strongly stimulates superconductivity in this compound. The phenomenological approach allows point out two mechanisms of superconducting temperature raising. They originates from stimulation by the uniaxial stress both intraband and interband amplitudes of triplet Cooper pairing. The phenomenon of reentrant superconductivity under magnetic field along b-axis is also strongly sensitive to the uniaxial stress in the same direction. The uniaxial stress accelerates suppression the Curie temperature by the transversal magnetic field. The emergence of the first order transition to the paramagnetic state occurs at much lower field than in the absence of uniaxial stress.

Reentrance phenomenon in superconductor/ferromagnet nanostructures and their application in superconducting spin valves for superconducting electronics

In superconductor/ferromagnet layered structures, a Fulde–Ferrell–Larkin–Ovchinnikov-like inhomogeneous superconducting pairing give rise. The singlet and zero-projection triplet components of the pairing oscillate in space, and the presence of interfaces causes interference phenomena. As the result of the interference, the super-conducting critical temperature Tc oscillates as a function of the ferromagnetic layer thicknesses or, even more spectacular, reentrant superconductivity appears. Two ferromagnetic layers can be combined with a superconducting layer into a superconducting spin valve. Proper design and choice of the material parameters give possibility to control superconducting Tc manipulating with magnetic configurations in the system. The conditions to get large spin-valve effect, i.e., a large shift in the critical temperature, are reviewed in the article.

Strong Landau-quantization effects in high-magnetic-field superconductivity of a two-dimensional multiple-band metal near the Lifshitz transition

We investigate the onset of superconductivity in magnetic field for a clean two-dimensional multiple-band superconductor in the vicinity of the Lifshitz transition when one of the bands is very shallow. Due to small number of carriers in this band, the quasiclassical Werthamer-Helfand approximation breaks down and Landau quantization has to be taken into account. We found that the transition temperature TC2(H) has giant oscillations and is resonantly enhanced at the magnetic fields corresponding to full occupancy of the Landau levels in the shallow band. This enhancement is especially pronounced for the lowest Landau level. As a consequence, the reentrant superconducting regions in the temperature-field phase diagram emerge at low temperatures near the magnetic fields at which the chemical potential matches the Landau levels. The specific behavior depends on the relative strength of the intraband and interband pairing interactions and the reentrance is most pronounced in the purely interband coupling scenario. The reentrant behavior is suppressed by the Zeeman spin splitting in the shallow band, the separated regions disappear already for very small spin-splitting factors. On the other hand, the reentrance is restored in the resonance cases when the spin-splitting energy exactly matches the separation between the Landau levels. The predicted behavior may realize in the gate-tuned FeSe monolayer.

Possibility for conventional superconductivity in Sr0.1Bi2Se3 from high-pressure transport studies

SrxBi2Se3 is recently reported to be a superconductor derived from topological insulator Bi2Se3. It shows a maximum resistive Tc of 3.25 K at ambient pressure. We report magnetic (up to 1 GPa) and transport properties (up to 8 Gpa) under pressure for single crystalline Sr0.1Bi2Se3 superconductor. Magnetic measurements show that Tc decreases from ∼2.6 K (0 GPa) to ∼1.9 K (0.81 GPa). Similar behavior is observed in transport properties as well without much change in the metallic characteristics in normal-state resistivity. No reentrant superconducting phase (Zhou Y. et al., Phys. Rev. B, 93 (2016) 144514) is observed at high pressure. Normal-state resistivity near Tc is explained by Fermi liquid model. Band structure calculations indicate decreasing density of states at Fermi level with pressure. In consonance with transition temperature suppression in conventional BCS low-Tc superconductors, the pressure effect in SrxBi2Se3 is well accounted by pressure-induced band broadening.

Synthesis and investigation of reentrant oxide superconductors

The conditions for the occurrence of reentrant superconductivity in granular superconductors are studied. The parameters of synthesis of the ceramic samples of CaLaBaCu3O x , SrLaBaCu3O x and YBa2–x Sr x Cu3O y Se z compositions, the results of their microstructure research, the elemental composition and the temperature dependence of the resistance are given. Samples are obtained, which reproducibly exhibit the reentrant superconductivity after the tens of thermal cycling. The relationship between the occurrence of reentrant superconductivity and the oxygen content in the samples was not established.