Imaging the Meissner effect and local superfluid stiffness in a graphene superconductor

TL;DR

This study directly images the Meissner effect and maps local superfluid stiffness in a graphene superconductor, revealing unique magnetic responses and phase transition behaviors.

Contribution

First direct imaging of the Meissner effect in a graphene superconductor, linking superconductivity onset to a quantum phase transition and analyzing superfluid stiffness temperature dependence.

Findings

Superconductivity screens only ~100 ppm of magnetic field.

Vortices observed via nanotesla-scale fringe fields.

Superfluid stiffness $ ho_s$ shows unconventional temperature dependence.

Abstract

We report the observation of the Meissner effect in a rhombohedral graphene superconductor, realized via direct imaging of the static fringe magnetic field. In our few-micron sample, the onset of superconductivity manifests as a diamagnetic response that screens only $\sim 100$ ppm of the applied magnetic field. Tracking the evolution of the resulting nanotesla-scale fields in real space allows us to observe the entry of superconducting vortices and map the local superfluid stiffness, $\rho_s$. Correlating fringe field signals from both Meissner screening and magnetically ordered states, we show that superconductivity onsets in the midst of a continuous quantum phase transition to a canted spin ferromagnet. Within the superconducting state, we find the temperature dependence of $\rho_s$ to be incompatible with isotropic Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory and the zero-temperature stiffness $\rho_s^0$ to be linearly proportional to $T_c$, constraining future theoretical models of superconductivity in this system.