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Tunable unconventional kagome superconductivity in charge ordered RbV 3 Sb 5 and KV 3 Sb 5 .

Zurab GuguchiaCharles MielkeDebarchan DasR GuptaJ-X YinH LiuQ YinM H ChristensenZ TuC GongN ShumiyaMd Shafayat HossainTs GamsakhurdashviliM ElenderPengcheng DaiAlex AmatoY ShiHe-Chang LeiRafael M FernandesM Zahid HasanHubertus LuetkensRustem Khasanov
Published in: Nature communications (2023)
Unconventional superconductors often feature competing orders, small superfluid density, and nodal electronic pairing. While unusual superconductivity has been proposed in the kagome metals AV 3 Sb 5 , key spectroscopic evidence has remained elusive. Here we utilize pressure-tuned and ultra-low temperature muon spin spectroscopy to uncover the unconventional nature of superconductivity in RbV 3 Sb 5 and KV 3 Sb 5 . At ambient pressure, we observed time-reversal symmetry breaking charge order below [Formula: see text] 110 K in RbV 3 Sb 5 with an additional transition at [Formula: see text] 50 K. Remarkably, the superconducting state displays a nodal energy gap and a reduced superfluid density, which can be attributed to the competition with the charge order. Upon applying pressure, the charge-order transitions are suppressed, the superfluid density increases, and the superconducting state progressively evolves from nodal to nodeless. Once optimal superconductivity is achieved, we find a superconducting pairing state that is not only fully gapped, but also spontaneously breaks time-reversal symmetry. Our results point to unprecedented tunable nodal kagome superconductivity competing with time-reversal symmetry-breaking charge order and offer unique insights into the nature of the pairing state.
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