English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Free Plan

The symmetry of a material's crystal structure has a significant effect onthe energy states of its electrons. Inversion symmetry, for example, results inenergetically degenerate electron energy bands for electrons with wave vectors$\textit{k}$ and -$\textit{k}$, but, when spatial inversion symmetry is absent,this equivalence is no longer possible. In a non-centrosymmetricsuperconductor, such inequivalence has an important effect: the standardsuperconducting state, where electrons with opposite momenta form pairs on theFermi surface, is not possible. A handful of such materials is known; theydisplay different degrees of influence of this lack of inversion symmetry ontheir superconducting properties. The effect of crystal structure chirality onthe properties and applications of superconductors, on the other hand, islittle discussed. Here we report the new isostructural non-centrosymmetricsuperconductors TaRh$_2$B$_2$ and NbRh$_2$B$_2$, which have a previouslyunreported crystal structure type. Not only do these materials lack inversionsymmetry, but their crystal structure is also chiral; in other words, they canexist in right-handed or left-handed forms. Unlike most superconductors, theirupper critical magnetic fields extrapolated to 0 K exceed the Pauli limit,which is often taken as the first indication that a superconducting material isanomalous. We propose that these materials represent a new kind of platform onwhich the effects of handedness on superconductors and their devices can betested.

The Chiral Non-Centrosymmetric Superconductors TaRh$_2$B$_2$ and NbRh$_2$B$_2$