<p>Chiral superconductors are unconventional superconducting states that break time-reversal symmetry spontaneously and typically feature Cooper pairing at non-zero angular momentum. Such states may host Majorana fermions and provide an important platform for topological physics research and fault-tolerant quantum computing<sup><CitationRef AdditionalCitationIDS="CR2 CR3 CR4 CR5 CR6" CitationID="CR1">1</CitationRef>–<CitationRef CitationID="CR7">7</CitationRef></sup>. Despite intensive search and prolonged studies of several candidate systems<sup><CitationRef AdditionalCitationIDS="CR9 CR10 CR11 CR12 CR13 CR14 CR15 CR16 CR17 CR18 CR19 CR20 CR21 CR22 CR23 CR24 CR25" CitationID="CR8">8</CitationRef>–<CitationRef CitationID="CR26">26</CitationRef></sup>, chiral superconductivity has remained elusive so far. Here we report the discovery of robust unconventional superconductivity in rhombohedral tetralayer and pentalayer graphene without moiré superlattice effects. We observed two superconducting states in the gate-induced flat conduction bands with <i>T</i><sub>c</sub> up to 300 mK and charge density <i>n</i><sub>e</sub> down to 2.4 × 10<sup>11</sup> cm<sup>−2</sup> in five devices. Spontaneous time-reversal-symmetry breaking (TRSB) owing to orbital motion of the electron is found and several observations indicate the chiral nature of these superconducting states, including: (1) in the superconducting state, <i>R</i><sub><i>xx</i></sub> shows magnetic hysteresis in varying out-of-plane magnetic field <i>B</i><sub>⊥</sub>—absent from all other superconductors; (2) the superconducting states are robust against in-plane magnetic field and are developed within a spin-polarized and valley-polarized quarter-metal (QM) phase; (3) the normal states show anomalous Hall signals at zero magnetic field and magnetic hysteresis. We also observed a critical <i>B</i><sub>⊥</sub> of 1.4 T, higher than any graphene superconductivity, which indicates a strong-coupling superconductivity close to the Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS)–Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) crossover<sup><CitationRef CitationID="CR27">27</CitationRef></sup>. Our observations establish a pure carbon material for the study of topological superconductivity, with the promise to explore Majorana modes and topological quantum computing.</p>

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Signatures of chiral superconductivity in rhombohedral graphene

  • Tonghang Han,
  • Zhengguang Lu,
  • Zach Hadjri,
  • Lihan Shi,
  • Zhenghan Wu,
  • Wei Xu,
  • Yuxuan Yao,
  • Armel A. Cotten,
  • Omid Sharifi Sedeh,
  • Henok Weldeyesus,
  • Jixiang Yang,
  • Junseok Seo,
  • Shenyong Ye,
  • Muyang Zhou,
  • Haoyang Liu,
  • Gang Shi,
  • Zhenqi Hua,
  • Kenji Watanabe,
  • Takashi Taniguchi,
  • Peng Xiong,
  • Dominik M. Zumbühl,
  • Liang Fu,
  • Long Ju

摘要

Chiral superconductors are unconventional superconducting states that break time-reversal symmetry spontaneously and typically feature Cooper pairing at non-zero angular momentum. Such states may host Majorana fermions and provide an important platform for topological physics research and fault-tolerant quantum computing17. Despite intensive search and prolonged studies of several candidate systems826, chiral superconductivity has remained elusive so far. Here we report the discovery of robust unconventional superconductivity in rhombohedral tetralayer and pentalayer graphene without moiré superlattice effects. We observed two superconducting states in the gate-induced flat conduction bands with Tc up to 300 mK and charge density ne down to 2.4 × 1011 cm−2 in five devices. Spontaneous time-reversal-symmetry breaking (TRSB) owing to orbital motion of the electron is found and several observations indicate the chiral nature of these superconducting states, including: (1) in the superconducting state, Rxx shows magnetic hysteresis in varying out-of-plane magnetic field B—absent from all other superconductors; (2) the superconducting states are robust against in-plane magnetic field and are developed within a spin-polarized and valley-polarized quarter-metal (QM) phase; (3) the normal states show anomalous Hall signals at zero magnetic field and magnetic hysteresis. We also observed a critical B of 1.4 T, higher than any graphene superconductivity, which indicates a strong-coupling superconductivity close to the Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS)–Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) crossover27. Our observations establish a pure carbon material for the study of topological superconductivity, with the promise to explore Majorana modes and topological quantum computing.