Observation of triplet superconductivity in CoSi<sub>2</sub>/TiSi<sub>2</sub> heterostructures.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 34272237.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.abg6569 and PMC identifier 8284886.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC.
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Abstract
Unconventional superconductivity and, in particular, triplet superconductivity have been front and center of topological materials and quantum technology research. Here, we report our observation of triplet pairing in nonmagnetic CoSi<sub>2</sub>/TiSi<sub>2</sub> heterostructures on silicon. CoSi<sub>2</sub> undergoes a sharp superconducting transition at a critical temperature <i>T</i> <sub>c</sub> ≃ 1.5 K, while TiSi<sub>2</sub> is a normal metal. We investigate conductance spectra of both two-terminal CoSi<sub>2</sub>/TiSi<sub>2</sub> contact junctions and three-terminal T-shaped CoSi<sub>2</sub>/TiSi<sub>2</sub> superconducting proximity structures. Below <i>T</i> <sub>c</sub>, we observe (i) a narrow zero-bias conductance peak on top of a broad hump, accompanied by two symmetric side dips in the contact junctions, (ii) a narrow zero-bias conductance peak in T-shaped structures, and (iii) hysteresis in the junction magnetoresistance. These three independent and complementary observations point to chiral p-wave pairing in CoSi<sub>2</sub>/TiSi<sub>2</sub> heterostructures. The excellent fabrication compatibility of CoSi<sub>2</sub> and TiSi<sub>2</sub> with present-day silicon-based integrated-circuit technology suggests their potential use in scalable quantum-computing devices.