Yin-Yang vortex on UTe2 (011) surface

作者：Ruotong Yin, Yuanji Li, Zengyi Du, Dengpeng Yuan, Shiyuan Wang, Jiashuo Gong, Mingzhe Li, Ziyuan Chen, Jiakang Zhang, Yuguang Wang, Ziwei Xue, Xinchun Lai, Shiyong Tan, Da Wang, Qiang-Hua Wang, Donglai Feng, Y. J. Yan · 发表于：Nature Communications · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.1038/s41467-026-72162-9 · 被引用次数：2 · 研究领域：Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics、Advanced Condensed Matter Physics、Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism

UTe2 is a candidate spin-triplet superconductor, yet its superconducting state remains debated. Using scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy, we observe a novel magnetic vortex with distinct dark-bright contrast in local density of states on UTe2 (011) surface under perpendicular magnetic fields, resembling the Yin-Yang diagram in Taoism. Each vortex carries a quantized magnetic flux, and the boundary between the two parts aligns with crystallographic a-axis. The vortex states exhibit intriguing behaviors –– the Yang part exhibits a sharp zero-energy conductance peak, whereas the Yin part shows a superconducting gap with pronounced coherence peaks, sharper than those without fields. Theoretical analysis attributes this pattern to vortex-induced asymmetric suppression of topological surface states caused by the tilted Fermi surface, constraining possible d-vector orientations. Our findings constitute distinctive evidence for spin-triplet pairing in UTe2, and provide new avenues for exploring the interplay between surface states and vortex-bound states in topological superconductors. The authors discover a “Yin-Yang” vortex on the (011) surface of UTe2 under a perpendicular magnetic field by scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy. Via theoretical modeling, they conclude that the observation of this vortex confirms the spin-triplet pairing of UTe2 and imposes constraints on the d-vector.