Band gap properties in the superconducting state and surface termination studies observed in the time-reversal symmetry breaking superconductor LaNiGa₂

LaNiGa₂ is a proposed triplet superconductor which breaks time reversal symmetry with interesting properties as a result of its topology at the Fermi energy. LaNiGa₂ is incredibly novel, since it is one of the only known samples to exhibit its particular overlap of topological and superconducting features, particularly in the absence of magnetism. An internally antisymmetric nonunitary triplet pairing, or INT state has been proposed as the superconducting mechanism. Local density of states (LDOS) measurements of the superconducting gap would be able to capture the definitive spin resolved double-peak signature of this state. Here we use Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) and Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy (STS) to observe the superconducting gap features for this triplet pairing in single crystal samples and provide surface topographies for defect sites and termination features. We report results on the band gap showing superconducting behavior at 0.3K and an active atomic landscape with significant terraces and step edges. This material has the potential to expand how we understand and predict topological superconductors and triplet pairing from time reversal symmetry breaking (TRSB), a challenging and sometimes controversial process.