Superconducting (SC) state has spin and orbital degrees of freedom, and spin-triplet superconductivity shows multiple SC phases because of the presence of these degrees of freedom. However, the observation of spin-direction rotation occurring inside the SC state (SC spin rotation) has hardly been reported. Uranium ditelluride, a recently found topological superconductor, exhibits various SC phases under pressure: SC state at ambient pressure (SC1), high-temperature SC state above 0.5 gigapascal (SC2), and low-temperature SC state above 0.5 gigapascal (SC3). We performed nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and ac susceptibility measurements on a single-crystal uranium ditelluride. The b axis spin susceptibility remains unchanged in SC2, unlike in SC1, and decreases below the SC2-SC3 transition with spin modulation. These unique properties in SC3 arise from the coexistence of two SC order parameters. Our NMR results confirm spin-triplet superconductivity with SC spin parallel to b axis in SC2 and unveil the remaining of spin degrees of freedom in SC uranium ditelluride.

No abstract

We have performed 63Cu-nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) measurements using a lump sample of the Yb zigzag-chain compound YbCuS2 with a small surface area to investigate the sample dependence of low-temperature magnetic properties in YbCuS2 by comparing with the previous study with different powdered sample. The line width of NQR signals in the present lump sample is larger than that in the previous powdered sample. In addition, the transition temperature T N ∼ 0.92 K in the present lump sample is lower than that in the previous powdered sample (∼ 0.95 K). These results suggest that the quality of the present lump sample is worse than that of the previous powdered sample. However, the T-linear behavior of the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/T1 was observed below 0.5 K and the value of 1/T 1 T in both samples is almost the same even though the sample quality and sample geometry are different. This suggests that T-linear behavior in 1/T 1 arises from the impurity-robust bulk gapless excitation inherent in YbCuS2 rather than from sample issues such as the sample quality or geometry.

The emergence of charge-neutral fermionic excitations in magnetic systems is one of the unresolved issues in recent condensed matter physics. This type of excitations has been observed in various systems, such as low-dimensional quantum spin liquids, Kondo insulators, and antiferromagnetic insulators. Here, we report the presence of a pronounced gapless spin excitation in the low-temperature antiferromagnetic state of YbCuS2 semiconductor, where trivalent ytterbium atoms form a zigzag chain structure. We confirm the presence of this gapless excitations by a combination of experimental probes, namely 63/65Cu-nuclear magnetic resonance and nuclear quadrupole resonance, as well as specific heat measurements, revealing a linear low-temperature behavior of both the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/T1 and the specific heat. This system provides a platform to investigate the origin of gapless excitations in spin chains and the relationship between emergent fermionic excitations and frustration.