UTe2 is a candidate spin-triplet superconductor, yet its superconducting state remains debated. Using scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy, we observe a novel magnetic vortex with distinct dark-bright contrast in local density of states on UTe2 (011) surface under perpendicular magnetic fields, resembling the Yin-Yang diagram in Taoism. Each vortex carries a quantized magnetic flux, and the boundary between the two parts aligns with crystallographic a-axis. The vortex states exhibit intriguing behaviors -- the Yang part exhibits a sharp zero-energy conductance peak, whereas the Yin part shows a superconducting gap with pronounced coherence peaks, sharper than those without fields. Theoretical analysis attributes this pattern to vortex-induced asymmetric suppression of topological surface states caused by the tilted Fermi surface, constraining possible d-vector orientations. Our findings constitute distinctive evidence for spin-triplet pairing in UTe2, and provide new avenues for exploring the interplay between surface states and vortex-bound states in topological superconductors.
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Ruotong Yin
Yuanji Li
Zengyi Du
University of Science and Technology of China
Nanjing University
Hefei National Center for Physical Sciences at Nanoscale
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Yin et al. (Sat,) studied this question.
www.synapsesocial.com/papers/69e7138bcb99343efc98cffc — DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-72162-9