Microscopic Fingerprint of Chiral Superconductivity

Chiral superconductors have long been theorized to break time-reversal symmetry and support exotic topological features such as Majorana modes and spontaneous edge currents, promising ingredients for quantum technologies. Although several unconventional superconductors may exhibit time-reversal symmetry breaking, clear microscopic evidence of chiral pairing has remained out of reach. In this work, we demonstrate direct real-space signatures of chiral superconductivity in a single atomic layer of tin on Si(111). Using quasiparticle interference imaging, we detected symmetry-locked nodal and antinodal points in the Bogoliubov quasiparticle wave function, tightly bound to atomic point defects in the tin lattice. These nodal features, along with their surrounding texture, form a distinct real-space pattern exhibiting a clear and exclusive hallmark of chiral superconductivity. Our findings, reinforced by analytical theory and numerical simulations, offer unambiguous evidence of chiral pairing in a two-dimensional material.

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Publication Details

Journal
Physical Review X
Published
2026-01-15
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/jmmf-mpr8
Primary Topic
Surface and Thin Film Phenomena
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Microscopic Fingerprint of Chiral Superconductivity

Congrun Chen, Xuan Hao, Rui-Xing Zhang, Steve Johnston et al.
Physical Review X
Surface and Thin Film Phenomena
article

Microscopic Fingerprint of Chiral Superconductivity

Congrun Chen, Xuan Hao, Rui-Xing Zhang, Steve Johnston, Kedong Wang, J. Michael Ramsey, Anonymous, Minghao Wu, Zhuo Chen, Yuchang Cai, Fangfei Ming
article en

Abstract

Chiral superconductors have long been theorized to break time-reversal symmetry and support exotic topological features such as Majorana modes and spontaneous edge currents, promising ingredients for quantum technologies. Although several unconventional superconductors may exhibit time-reversal symmetry breaking, clear microscopic evidence of chiral pairing has remained out of reach. In this work, we demonstrate direct real-space signatures of chiral superconductivity in a single atomic layer of tin on Si(111). Using quasiparticle interference imaging, we detected symmetry-locked nodal and antinodal points in the Bogoliubov quasiparticle wave function, tightly bound to atomic point defects in the tin lattice. These nodal features, along with their surrounding texture, form a distinct real-space pattern exhibiting a clear and exclusive hallmark of chiral superconductivity. Our findings, reinforced by analytical theory and numerical simulations, offer unambiguous evidence of chiral pairing in a two-dimensional material.

Physical Review XVol. 16(1)
Sun Yat-sen University (CN), Southern University of Science and Technology (CN), Great Bay University, University of Tennessee at Knoxville (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 84%
Surface and Thin Film Phenomena
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Microscopic Fingerprint of Chiral Superconductivity — Congrun Chen, Xuan Hao, et al. · Physical Review X (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS