Superconducting properties and materials articles within Nature Communications

Featured

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Tunneling spectroscopy is widely used to examine the subgap spectra in semiconductor/superconductor nanostructures. Here, the authors develop an alternative type of tunnel probe for InSb-Al hybrid nanowires, enabling study of the spatial extension of Andreev bound states.

    • Vukan Levajac
    • , Ji-Yin Wang
    •  & Leo P. Kouwenhoven

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Near-ambient superconductivity and pressure-driven color changes were recently reported in nitrogen-doped lutetium hydride. Here, the authors synthesize LuH2±xNy and do not confirm the superconductivity. In addition, they find that the color changes likely stem from pressure-induced electron redistribution of nitrogen and vacancies.

    • Xiangzhuo Xing
    • , Chao Wang
    •  & Xiaobing Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Early theoretical work predicted that fluctuations above the superfluid transition in liquid 3He should be observable in viscosity. Baten et al. document the reduction of the viscosity due to fluctuations, by monitoring the quality factor of a resonator immersed in 3He as a function of pressure and temperature.

    • Rakin N. Baten
    • , Yefan Tian
    •  & Jeevak M. Parpia

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Superconductivity was recently reported experimentally in nitrogen-doped lutetium hydride with Tc = 294 K at a pressure of 1 GPa. Here, via theoretical calculations, the authors find no structures capable of supporting conventional superconductivity in the Lu-N-H system at ambient pressure.

    • Pedro P. Ferreira
    • , Lewis J. Conway
    •  & Lilia Boeri

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors study a Pt/Nb hybrid structure by scanning microscopy and muon spin rotation. They find an anomalous absence of Meissner screening near the Pt/Nb interface due to spin-triplet pair correlations driven by spin-orbit coupling alone with no ferromagnetic layer necessary.

    • Machiel Flokstra
    • , Rhea Stewart
    •  & Stephen Lee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Twisted bilayer graphene hosts a sequence of electronic resets evidenced experimentally by characteristic spectroscopic cascades and sawtooth peaks in the inverse electronic compressibility. Here, the authors use combined dynamical mean-field theory and Hartree calculations to demonstrate that symmetry-breaking transitions are not necessary to observe cascades in twisted bilayer graphene.

    • Anushree Datta
    • , M. J. Calderón
    •  & E. Bascones

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Transition metal monochalcogenides have been predicted to host interesting superconducting and topological properties, but their synthesis remains challenging. Here, the authors report a self-intercalation method driven by ionic liquid gating to obtain PdTe and NiTe single crystals from PdTe2 and NiTe2, respectively.

    • Fei Wang
    • , Yang Zhang
    •  & Shuyun Zhou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Dense random access memory is required for building future generations of superconducting computers. Here the authors study vortex-based memory cells, demonstrate their scalability to submicron sizes and robust word and bit-line operation at zero magnetic field.

    • Taras Golod
    • , Lise Morlet-Decarnin
    •  & Vladimir M. Krasnov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    By coupling two quantum dots via a superconductor-semiconductor hybrid region in a 2D electron gas, the authors achieve efficient splitting of Cooper pairs. Further, by applying a magnetic field perpendicular to the spin-orbit field, they can induce and measure large triplet correlations in the Cooper pair splitting process.

    • Qingzhen Wang
    • , Sebastiaan L. D. ten Haaf
    •  & Srijit Goswami

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Solid helium is predicted to become a metal at extraordinarily high pressures of 25 TPa. Here, the authors predict that helium becomes an excitonic insulator just below the metallization pressure, and a superconductor just above the metallization pressure.

    • Cong Liu
    • , Ion Errea
    •  & Claudio Cazorla

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The practical device application of transition-metal dichalcogenide superconductors (TMDSCs) is limited by their environmental instability. Here, the authors report a generic, non-destructive, and scalable strategy to fabricate TMDSC nanocircuits via the topotactic conversion of prepatterned metallic precursors.

    • Xiaohan Wang
    • , Hao Wang
    •  & Peiheng Wu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Majorana bound states are an elusive but promising platform for future topological quantum computation. Here, the authors use local shot noise spectroscopy to determine the nature of charge transfer into zero-energy bound states in superconducting vortices and rule out the presence of impurity states.

    • Jian-Feng Ge
    • , Koen M. Bastiaans
    •  & Milan P. Allan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors theoretically predict a superconducting diode effect in chiral nanotubes when a magnetic field is applied along the axis of the tube, where the diode efficiency is controlled by nanotube diameter and chiral angle. They further predict a non-reciprocal paraconductivity slightly above the superconducting transition temperature.

    • James Jun He
    • , Yukio Tanaka
    •  & Naoto Nagaosa

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The proximity effect in semiconductor-superconductor nanowires is expected to generate an induced gap in the semiconductor. Here, the authors study the superconducting proximity effect in InSb nanowires with an Al/Pt shell, demonstrating control of the induced gap using electric and magnetic fields.

    • Nick van Loo
    • , Grzegorz P. Mazur
    •  & Leo P. Kouwenhoven

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Pair density wave is a superconducting state with a periodically modulated order parameter which could exist in high-temperature superconductors. Setty et al. develop a unified theoretical framework that accounts for both long-range-ordered and fluctuating pair density waves in the strong-coupling limit.

    • Chandan Setty
    • , Laura Fanfarillo
    •  & P. J. Hirschfeld

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The strange metal state, characterized by a linear-in-temperature resistivity, is often seen in the normal state of high-temperature superconductors. Here, the authors report the breakdown of both the strange metal and superconducting states at a pressure-induced quantum critical point in an iron-pnictide superconductor.

    • Shu Cai
    • , Jinyu Zhao
    •  & Liling Sun

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Recent photo-emission experiments reported a strong nearest-neighbour attraction in a 1D cuprate, possibly originating from long-range electron-phonon coupling. By using state-of-the-art numerical methods, the authors show that a Hubbard model with extended electron-phonon terms reproduces experimental features.

    • Ta Tang
    • , Brian Moritz
    •  & Thomas P. Devereaux

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The quest to improve transparent conductors is a balance between increasing electrical conductivity and optical transparency. Here the authors demonstrate that both can be fulfilled by separating the optical and electrical conductivity directionality.

    • Carsten Putzke
    • , Chunyu Guo
    •  & Philip J. W. Moll

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Non-reciprocal critical current in a Josephson junction device is known as the Josephson diode effect. Here, the authors observe such an effect in 3-terminal Josephson devices based on InAs two-dimensional electron gas proximitized by an epitaxial Al layer.

    • Mohit Gupta
    • , Gino V. Graziano
    •  & Vlad S. Pribiag

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A long-standing puzzle in the quantum critical behavior of cuprate superconductors has been the observed sub-linear power-law dependence of optical conductivity. Here, the authors present measurements of the optical spectra and resistivity of La2−xSrxCuO4, and develop a theoretical framework that yields a unified description of the optical spectra, resistivity and specific heat.

    • Bastien Michon
    • , Christophe Berthod
    •  & Antoine Georges

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Superconducting interfaces involving KTaO3 have recently attracted attention due to their relatively high transition temperature. Here, the authors study amorphous-YAlO3/KTaO3 interfaces and find two-fold symmetry in the superconducting regime, possibly due to a mixed-parity superconducting state.

    • Guanqun Zhang
    • , Lijie Wang
    •  & Wei Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Orbital order that does not break the overall crystal lattice symmetry is difficult to observe. Here, the authors use scanning tunneling microscopy on the superconductor CeCoIn5 to detect a signature of the orbital order in quasiparticle interference which is enhanced in the superconducting state, as predicted theoretically.

    • Weijiong Chen
    • , Clara Neerup Breiø
    •  & Andreas Kreisel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The heavy-fermion superconductor UTe2 likely exhibits spin-triplet Cooper pairing, although a singlet component is possible. Here, using magnetic penetration depth measurements, the authors find evidence consistent with chiral B3u+iAu spin-triplet superconductivity in UTe2.

    • Kota Ishihara
    • , Masaki Roppongi
    •  & Takasada Shibauchi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It has been debated whether the single-band Hubbard model describes the physics of the cuprates. Mai et al. numerically study the spin and charge correlations in the electron-doped model and conclude that, in contrast to the hole-doped one, it captures the corresponding side of the cuprate phase diagram.

    • Peizhi Mai
    • , Nathan S. Nichols
    •  & Steven Johnston

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Disorder and device variability in hybrid superconductor-semiconductor devices pose challenges for their application in quantum technologies. Here, the authors show that Joule heating can provide a detailed fingerprint of such devices, uncovering different sources of inhomogeneities.

    • A. Ibabe
    • , M. Gómez
    •  & E. J. H. Lee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Time-reversal symmetry breaking by an external magnetic field can lead to a novel quantum state called the gapless superconducting state. Here, the authors use magneto-terahertz spectroscopy to study the gapless superconductivity of thin niobium films.

    • Ji Eun Lee
    • , Joonyoung Choi
    •  & Jae Hoon Kim

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Recently, high-temperature superconductivity has been reported in LaH10 and CeH10. Here, the authors report superconductivity in the alloy (La,Ce)H9-10 with Tc = 176 K at 100 GPa, providing an improved compromise between high transition temperature and low pressure requirements.

    • Wuhao Chen
    • , Xiaoli Huang
    •  & Tian Cui

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The properties of edge states at the boundary between a quantum Hall insulator and a superconductor have recently been under scrutiny. Here, the authors find theoretically that Andreev reflection of an edge state is possible only if the superconductor is in the disordered limit, leading to stochastic edge state conductance and providing an explanation of a recent experiment.

    • Vladislav D. Kurilovich
    • , Zachary M. Raines
    •  & Leonid I. Glazman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Superconductivity has been discovered in atomically thin two-dimensional van der Waals materials by resistance measurements, but magnetic measurements are lacking. Here, the authors use a micron-scale SQUID magnetometer to measure the superfluid response of exfoliated MoS2.

    • Alexander Jarjour
    • , G. M. Ferguson
    •  & Katja C. Nowack

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Electron-phonon coupling is thought to be too weak to be responsible for the superconducting Cooper pairing of the kagome metals AV3Sb5, but an experimental measurement is lacking. Here, the authors use ARPES measurements to find that electron-phonon coupling in CsV3Sb5 is strong enough to support the experimental superconducting transition.

    • Yigui Zhong
    • , Shaozhi Li
    •  & Kozo Okazaki

  • Article
    | Open Access

    When entering a ferromagnet, a spin-singlet supercurrent decays rapidly, while a spin-triplet supercurrent can extend over much longer distances. Here, the authors observe long-range, spin triplet supercurrent in lateral Josephson junctions constructed using the van der Waals metallic ferromagnet Fe3GeTe2 as the weak link.

    • Guojing Hu
    • , Changlong Wang
    •  & Bin Xiang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The role of stoichiometric defects in the superconducting polyhydride LaH10±δ has received little attention so far. Here, the authors use molecular-dynamics simulations to show that a small amount of stoichiometric defects will cause quantum proton diffusion in the otherwise rigid lanthanum lattice.

    • Hui Wang
    • , Pascal T. Salzbrenner
    •  & Yansun Yao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A nonreciprocal critical current is known as the superconducting diode effect (SDE). Here, the authors use SQUID-on-tip to study SDE in a EuS/Nb bilayer and find that the stray field from magnetized EuS creates screening currents in the Nb, which lead to SDE by affecting vortex flow dynamics.

    • Alon Gutfreund
    • , Hisakazu Matsuki
    •  & Yonathan Anahory

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A superconducting diode effect was recently reported in Nb/V/Ta superlattices, but the mechanism is not yet clear. Here, the authors study non-reciprocal critical current in Al/InAs nanowires and propose a generic extrinsic mechanism involving field-generated diamagnetic currents, which may explain the earlier Nb/V/Ta results.

    • Ananthesh Sundaresh
    • , Jukka I. Väyrynen
    •  & Leonid P. Rokhinson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The discovery of superconductivity in the infinite-layer nickelates reignites an interest in the nickelates as cuprate analogues. Here, the authors investigate the role of epitaxial strain in the synthesis of the n=3 layered nickelate, Nd4Ni3O8.

    • Dan Ferenc Segedin
    • , Berit H. Goodge
    •  & Julia A. Mundy

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cuprate superconductors are known for their intertwined interactions and coexistence of competing orders. Here, the authors observe a Fano resonance in the nonlinear THz response of La2-xSrxCuO4, which may arise from a coupling between superconducting and charge-density-wave amplitude fluctuations.

    • Hao Chu
    • , Sergey Kovalev
    •  & Stefan Kaiser

Browse broader subjects

Browse Superconducting properties and materials across other nature.com journals