Defect Bound-States as a Probe of Unconventional Order Parameter in Doped Kagome Superconductor
Author: Almoalem, Avior
Affiliation: University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
Type: Contributed Talk
Session: Kagome superconductors and charge order
Date and Time: 20.07.2026, 12:35 - 12:55
The quasi-2D Kagome metals AV3Sb5 (A = Cs, K, Rb) have emerged as a rich platform to explore the interplay between geometric frustration, nontrivial band topology and strong electronic correlations which stems from a series of van-Hove singularities. This family of materials is characterized by the absence of any localized magnetic moments, with superconductivity emerging from a charge density wave state with broken time reversal symmetry. Superconductivity with broken time reversal symmetry was seen in μ SR, Kerr effect and superconducting diode effect studies in some members of this family. The superconducting order-parameter in AV3Sb5-xSnx is particularly intriguing, with theoretical proposals ranging from sign-changing s± to chiral d+id pairing symmetries with increasing doping. Here, we investigate the doping evolution in RbV3Sb5-xSnx using spectroscopic-imaging scanning tunneling microscopy. Close to optimal doping (x = 0.3), we uncover clear evidence for a two-gap superconducting order parameter, revealed both by distinct spectroscopic features and quasi-particle interference within the larger gap energies. Atomic-scale imaging of the Sb honeycomb layer further identifies two types of defect-induced bound states, absent in the pristine and lightly doped compounds. A systematic comparison between experiment and theory for the effects of magnetic and non-magnetic impurities on superconductivity allows us to identify the chiral state d+id as the order parameter in almost optimally doped RbV3Sb5-xSnx.