IQIM Postdoctoral and Graduate Student Seminar

Abstract: Triplet superconductors are likely to be topologically non-trivial, allowing them to host Majorana bound states that could be used in a new generation of qubits. I will discuss the spin-triplet superconductor UTe2 and general experimental signatures of triplet superconductivity. Additionally, UTe2 hosts at least two distinct field-induced superconducting phases. Applied magnetic fields suppress superconductivity through two mechanisms: paramagnetic limiting and orbital limiting. It is therefore rare and surprising to find field-induced superconductivity in any material. I will review known mechanisms by which materials can exhibit such seemingly paradoxical behavior and discuss which of these mechanisms are consistent with our recent experimental results on UTe2 at high fields. These results indicate that the high-field superconducting phase is likely spin-triplet and therefore likely topologically non-trivial as well.

Lunch will be provided following the talk.