Gate-tunable hallmarks of unconventional superconductivity in non-centrosymmetric nanowires

Kavli Affiliate: Andrea D. Caviglia

| First 5 Authors: Gyanendra Singh, Claudio Guarcello, Edouard Lesne, Dag Winkler, Tord Claeson

| Summary:

Two dimensional SrTiO3-based interfaces stand out among non-centrosymmetric
superconductors due to their intricate interplay of gate tunable Rashba
spin-orbit coupling and multi-orbital electronic occupations, whose combination
theoretically prefigures various forms of non-standard superconductivity.
However, a convincing demonstration by phase sensitive measurements has been
elusive so far. Here, by employing superconducting transport measurements in
nano-devices we present clear-cut experimental evidences of unconventional
superconductivity in the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface. The central observations are
the substantial anomalous enhancement of the critical current by small magnetic
fields applied perpendicularly to the plane of electron motion, and the
asymmetric response with respect to the magnetic field direction. These
features have a unique trend in intensity and sign upon electrostatic gating
that, together with their dependence on temperature and nanowire dimensions,
cannot be accommodated within a scenario of canonical spin-singlet
superconductivity. We theoretically demonstrate that the hall-marks of the
experimental observations unambiguously indicate a coexistence of Josephson
channels with sign difference and intrinsic phase shift. The character of these
findings establishes the occurrence of independent components of unconventional
pairing in the superconducting state due to inversion symmetry breaking. The
outcomes open new venues for the investigation of multi-orbital
non-centrosymmetric superconductivity and Josephson-based devices for quantum
technologies.

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