Spin-polarized edge modes between different magnet-superconductor-hybrids

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Authors: Felix Zahner, Felix Nickel, Roberto Lo Conte, Tim Drevelow, Roland Wiesendanger, Stefan Heinze, Kirsten von Bergmann
Cited by: 0
References: 34

Abstract

The interplay of magnetism and superconductivity can lead to intriguing emergent phenomena. Here we combine two different two-dimensional antiferromagnetic magnet-superconductor hybrids (MSH) and study their properties using spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy. Both MSHs show the characteristics of a topological nodal point superconducting phase with edge modes to the trivial substrate superconductor. At the boundary between the two MSHs we find low-energy modes which are spin-polarized. Based on a tight-binding model we can explain the experimental observations by considering two different topological nodal point superconductors. At their boundary spin-polarized chiral edge modes emerge that connect topological nodal points of the two different MSH. We demonstrate via the complex band structure that due to an asymmetric lateral decay these edge modes are spin-polarized, regardless of the details of the spin structure at the boundary. This work shows how interfaces between two distinct topological nodal point superconductors can serve as a platform to engineer spin-polarized edge modes.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Topological Materials and Phenomena Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism Iron-based superconductors research

Publication details

Journal / source
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Volume
17
Issue
1
Publication date
11 April 2026
Language
EN