The Non-collinear Path to Topological Superconductivity
arxiv(2024)
Abstract
Combining spin textures in ultra-thin films with conventional superconductors
has emerged as a powerful and versatile platform for designing topologically
non-trivial superconducting phases as well as spin-triplet Cooper pairs. As a
consequence, two-dimensional magnet-superconductor hybrids (2D MSHs) are
promising candidate systems to realize devices for topology-based quantum
technologies and superconducting spintronics. So far, studies have focused
mostly on systems hosting collinear ferromagnets or antiferromagnets. However,
topologically non-trivial phases have been predicted to emerge in MSH systems
with non-collinear spin textures as well. In this article, we present the
experimental discovery of topological superconductivity in the MSH system
Fe/Ta(110) where a magnetic spiral is realized in the Fe monolayer on the
surface of the s-wave superconductor Ta. By combining low-temperature
spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy measurements with theoretical
modeling, we are able to conclude that the system is in a topological
nodal-point superconducting phase with low-energy edge modes. Due to the
non-collinear spin texture in our MSH system, these edge modes exhibit a
magnetization direction-dependent dispersion. Furthermore, we identify direct
signatures of Rashba spin-orbit coupling in the experimentally measured
differential tunneling conductance. The present work realizes a non-collinear
spin texture-based path to topological superconductivity.
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