Feb 8 2024

Physics Seminar-“Thermal Transport Studies of the Superconducting State of Uranium Ditelluride” with Dr. Ian Hayes

Physics Seminar

February 8, 2024

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Location

SES 2214

Physics Seminar

Abstract: “Soon after the discovery of superconductivity in uranium ditelluride (UTe2), evidence began accumulating that the pairing state is odd-parity (triplet). This opens the possibility of topological superconductivity in UTe2 and motivates a careful study of the orbital part of the gap structure. In this talk I will discuss the thermal transport properties of UTe2 in its superconducting state down to 30 millikelvin. These extremely low-temperature measurements allow us to discriminate between point node, line node, and fully gapped order parameters. By comparing results among samples with varying disorder levels and superconducting transition temperatures we can conclude that UTe2 possesses symmetry-protected point nodes in its gap function. These observations strongly support the triplet pairing scenario, but likely rule out a strong topological superconducting state in UTe2. I will also discuss how these results contribute to our understanding of the vortex state in unconventional superconductors.”

Contact

Physics Office

Date posted

Jan 29, 2024

Date updated

Feb 2, 2024