Field-Induced Superconductivity near the Superconducting Critical Pressure in UTe2

TL;DR

This study reveals field-induced superconductivity near the critical pressure in UTe2, highlighting the role of magnetic fluctuations and spin polarization in reinforcing superconductivity, especially for fields along the a and c axes.

Contribution

It demonstrates the emergence of field-induced superconductivity near the critical pressure in UTe2 and links it to spin polarization and magnetic fluctuations, a novel insight into unconventional superconductivity.

Findings

Superconductivity is reinforced by magnetic fluctuations near critical pressure.

Field-induced superconductivity occurs in a spin-polarized state at high fields.

Superconductivity is suppressed in magnetic ordered phases at low fields.

Abstract

We report the magnetoresistance in the novel spin-triplet superconductor UTe2 under pressure close to the critical pressure Pc, where the superconducting phase terminates, for field along the three a, b and c-axes in the orthorhombic structure. The superconducting phase for H // a-axis just below Pc shows a field-reentrant behavior due to the competition with the emergence of magnetic order at low fields. The upper critical field Hc2 for H // c-axis shows a quasi-vertical increase in the H-T phase diagram just below Pc, indicating that superconductivity is reinforced by the strong fluctuations which persist even at high fields above 20T. Increasing pressure leads to the disappearance of superconductivity at zero field with the emergence of magnetic order. Surprisingly, field-induced superconductivity is observed at high fields, where a spin-polarized state is realized due to the suppression of the magnetic ordered phases; the spin-polarized state is favorable for superconductivity, whereas the magnetic ordered phase at low field seems to be unfavorable. The huge Hc2 in the spin-polarized state seems to imply a spin-triplet state. Contrary to the a- and c-axes, no field-reinforcement of superconductivity occurs for magnetic field along the b-axis. We compare the results with the field-reentrant superconductivity above the metamagnetic field, Hm for the field direction tilted by about 30 deg. from b to c-axis at ambient pressure as well as the field-reentrant (-reinforced) superconductivity in ferromagnetic superconductors, URhGe and UCoGe.