Absence of bulk charge density wave in low temperature x-ray measurements of UTe2

ORAL

Abstract

UTe2 has been the subject of extensive study since the discovery of its unconventional, potentially spin-triplet superconductivity. Recent evidence has emerged for the formation of a pair density wave (PDW) via scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) measurements [1-3]. However, a clear signature of an associated bulk charge density wave (CDW) transition has not been observed in transport measurements. Here we present high energy and resonant elastic x-ray scattering measurements of UTe2 taken at temperatures comparable to STM measurements by using Joule-Thomson-supported cooling stages. We find no signatures for the formation of a bulk CDW down to ∼ 2 K, either in non-resonant measurements at 100 keV or in resonant measurements at the U M4 edge (3.7 keV) or the Te L1 edge (4.9 keV). Our results suggest that the CDW observed in STM may be a feature of the surface and absent from the bulk of UTe2 at this temperature.

[1] Aishwarya, A., et al. (2023). Nature, 618(7967), 928–933. 10.1038/s41586-023-06005-8

[2] Gu, Q., et al. (2023). Nature, 618(7967), 921–927. 10.1038/s41586-023-05919-7

[3] Lafleur, A., et al. (2023). arXiv.2308.03721

* Work at Los Alamos National Laboratory was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Science and Engineering. C.S.K. acknowledges support from the Laboratory Directed Research and Development program. W.S. was supported through funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 884104 (PSI-FELLOW-III-3i). P.A. acknowledges support from Moore Foundation EPiQS grant GBMF9452.

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Presenters

  • Caitlin S Kengle

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champai, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Authors

  • Caitlin S Kengle

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champai, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • Wolfgang J Simeth

    Paul Scherrer Institut

  • Jakub Vonka

    Paul Scherrer Institut

  • Johan Chang

    University of Zurich, Universitat Zurich

  • Sonia Francoual

    Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron

  • Marc Janoschek

    Paul Scherrer Institute

  • Priscila Rosa

    Los Alamos National Laboratory

  • Dipanjan Chaudhuri

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • Thomas A Johnson

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • Xuefei Guo

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • Simon L Bettler

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • Johnpierre Paglione

    University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland Quantum Materials Center, Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA

  • Matthew J Krogstad

    Argonne National Laboratory

  • Peter Abbamonte

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champai, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign