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Updated: Jan 26, 2026

Fabrication and Characterization of Superconducting Resonators
Published on: May 21, 2016
Nodeless Bulk Superconductivity in the Time-Reversal Symmetry Breaking Bi/Ni Bilayer System
Prashant Chauhan1, Fahad Mahmood1, Di Yue2
1The Institute for Quantum Matter, Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA.
Abstract:
Epitaxial bilayer films of Bi(110) and Ni host a time-reversal symmetry breaking superconducting order with an unexpectedly high transition temperature T_{c}=4.1 K. Using time-domain THz spectroscopy, we measure the low energy electrodynamic response of a Bi/Ni bilayer thin film from 0.2 to 2 THz as a function of temperature and magnetic field. We analyze the data in the context of a Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer-like superconductor with a finite normal-state scattering rate. In a zero magnetic field, all states in the film become fully gapped, providing important constraints into possible pairing symmetries. Our data appear to rule out the odd-frequency pairing that is natural for many ferromagnetic-superconductor interfaces. By analyzing the magnetic field-dependent response in terms of a pair-breaking parameter, we determine that superconductivity develops over the entire bilayer sample which may point to the p-wave like nature of unconventional superconductivity.
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