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Integrating mirrors with magnetic components is crucial for constructing chiral optical cavities, which provide tunable platforms for time-reversal-asymmetric light-matter interactions. Here, we introduce single-crystal circular-polarization-selective mirrors based on chiral superconductors, which break time-reversal symmetry themselves, eliminating the need for additional components. We show that a circular-polarization-selective perfect reflection (CSPR) occurs for strong-coupling superconductors in the BCS-BEC crossover regime or beyond if the optical Hall conductivity is significant in the unit of conductivity quantum per unit layer, e/ha, where a is the lattice constant along the surface normal. While the optical Hall conductivity in chiral superconductors is typically tiny, we classify three routes to obtain a large value. We demonstrate the significant optical Hall conductivity and the resulting CSPR with two examples: (1) superconductivity in doped quantum Hall insulators and (2) chiral pairing that preserves the Bogoliubov Fermi surfaces in the weak-pairing limit. We also discuss the application of our theory to the recently discovered chiral superconducting phase in rhombohedral graphene. Our theory reveals the potential of these classes of chiral superconductors as promising elements for building high-quality-factor terahertz chiral cavities.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61658-5 | DOI Listing |
Nat Commun
September 2025
Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
The nature of the dominant pairing mechanism in some two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides is still debated. Focusing on monolayer 1H-NbSe, we show that superconductivity can be induced by the Coulomb interaction when accounting for screening effects on the trigonal lattice with multiple orbitals. Using ab initio based tight-binding parametrizations for the relevant low-energy d-bands, we evaluate the screened interaction microscopically.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Adv
September 2025
Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-0043, Japan.
Topological superconductors are one of the intriguing material groups from the viewpoint of not only condensed matter physics but also industrial applications such as quantum computers based on Majorana fermion. For real applications, developments of thin-film topological superconductors are highly desirable. Bi/Ni bilayer is a possible candidate for thin-film chiral superconductors where the time-reversal symmetry is broken.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJACS Au
August 2025
Ordered Matter Science Research Center, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, People's Republic of China.
Molecule intercalation has shown distinct advantages in modulating the superconducting properties of 2D materials. Chiral molecule intercalation provides a strategy for tuning electronic properties, while this approach has been limited to a few 2D materials such as TaS and TiS. Although extensive research on 2D SnSe exists, chiral molecule intercalation in SnSe remains unexplored.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdv Mater
August 2025
PSI Center for Neutron and Muon Sciences CNM, 5232, Villigen PSI, Switzerland.
Chiral crystals, whose key feature is the structural handedness, host exotic quantum phenomena driven by the interplay of band topology, spin-orbit coupling (SOC), and electronic correlations. Due to the limited availability of suitable chiral-crystal materials, their unconventional superconductivity (SC) remains largely unexplored. Here, the discovery of unconventional SC in the La(Rh,Ir)Si family of materials is reported by combining muon-spin spectroscopy, band-structure calculations, and perturbation theory.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
August 2025
Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138.
We argue that the combination of strong repulsive interactions and high magnetic fields can generate electron pairing and superconductivity. Inspired by the large lattice constants of moiré materials, which make large flux per unit cell accessible at laboratory fields, we study the triangular lattice Hofstadter-Hubbard model at one-quarter flux quantum per plaquette, where previous literature has argued that a chiral spin liquid separates a weak-coupling integer quantum Hall phase and a strong-coupling topologically trivial antiferromagnetic insulator at a density of one electron per site. We argue that topological superconductivity emerges upon doping in the vicinity of the integer quantum Hall to chiral spin liquid transition.
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