Probing time-reversal symmetry breaking superconductivity in a brand new non-centrosymmetric superconductor Mg2Rh3P

The search for non-centrosymmetric superconductors that may exhibit unusual physical properties and unconventional superconductivity has yielded the synthesis of a new non-centrosymmetric phosphide Mg2Rh3P with an Al2Mo3C-type structure, which is superconducting with a Tc value of 3.8 K. The low gap-value extracted from the specific heat data indicate for unconventional superconductivity. Band-structure calculations indicate the existence of exotic fermions. The presence of heavy element Rh is expected to favour strong spin-orbit coupling. The missing inversion symmetry along with strong spin-orbit coupling makes this material an ideal candidate to study for time-reversal symmetry (TRS) breaking superconductivity using the muSR technique. Here we propose to investigate the superconducting properties of Mg2Rh3P with a combination of zero-field and transverse-field muSR measurements.

针对兼具反常物理特性与非常规超导电性的非中心对称超导体（non-centrosymmetric superconductors）的研究探索，成功合成出一种新型非中心对称磷化物Mg₂Rh₃P。该材料的晶体结构为Al₂Mo₃C型，超导临界温度（Tc）达3.8 K。从比热数据中提取的低能隙值，表明该材料具备非常规超导电性。能带结构计算结果显示，该材料中存在奇异费米子（exotic fermions）。重元素铑（Rh）的存在，有望促成强自旋轨道耦合（spin-orbit coupling）。反演对称性的缺失与强自旋轨道耦合共同作用，使得该材料成为利用缪子自旋共振（muSR）技术研究时间反演对称性（time-reversal symmetry, TRS）破缺超导电性的理想候选体系。本研究拟结合零场与横向场缪子自旋共振测量手段，对Mg₂Rh₃P的超导特性展开研究。