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Updated: Jul 2, 2025
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Scalable Quantum Integrated Circuits on Superconducting Two-Dimensional Electron Gas Platform
Published on: August 2, 2019
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Light-induced switching between singlet and triplet superconducting states
Steven Gassner1, Clara S Weber2,3, Martin Claassen4
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA. sgassner@sas.upenn.edu.
Nature Communications
|February 27, 2024
Summary
Researchers developed a theory for switching between superconducting states using light. This method could enable the creation of topological triplet-pairing superconductivity, a challenging but promising phase.
Area of Science:
- Condensed matter physics
- Quantum materials
- Superconductivity
Background:
- Topological triplet-pairing superconductivity is a challenging but highly sought-after phase.
- Optically stabilizing metastable superconducting states offers a novel approach.
- Strong spin-orbit coupling is crucial for realizing exotic superconducting states.
Purpose of the Study:
- To devise a testable theory for inducing topological triplet-pairing superconductivity.
- To explore ultrafast switching between superconducting phases.
- To engineer unconventional electronic phases using light.
Main Methods:
- Developing a theory of competing superconducting orders.
- Utilizing microscopic and phenomenological models.
- Simulating dynamical inversion symmetry breaking with tailored light pulses.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated ultrafast switching to an opposite-parity superconducting phase in centrosymmetric crystals.
- Showed that light-induced symmetry breaking can drive even-parity (spin singlet) to odd-parity (spin triplet) superconductivity.
- Identified a route to a competing minimum in the free energy landscape.
Conclusions:
- Provided new principles for engineering unconventional electronic phases with light.
- Suggested a fundamentally non-equilibrium route toward realizing topological superconductivity.
- Opened new avenues for exploring exotic quantum states in materials.
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