Anomalous superconductivity in twisted MoTe            <sub>2</sub>            nanojunctions

Yanyu Jia; Tiancheng Song; Zhaoyi Joy Zheng; Guangming Cheng; Ayelet J. Uzan; Guo Yu; Yue Tang; Connor J. Pollak; Fang Yuan; Michael Onyszczak; Kenji Watanabe; Takashi Taniguchi; Shiming Lei; Nan Yao; Leslie M. Schoop; N. P. Ong; Sanfeng Wu

doi:10.1126/sciadv.adq5712

Journal article Anomalous superconductivity in twisted MoTe ₂ nanojunctions

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Yanyu Jia, Tiancheng Song, Zhaoyi Joy Zheng, Guangming Cheng, Ayelet J. Uzan, Guo Yu, Yue Tang, Connor J. Pollak, Fang Yuan, Michael Onyszczak, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, Shiming Lei, Nan Yao, Leslie M. Schoop, N. P. Ong, Sanfeng Wu. Anomalous superconductivity in twisted MoTe ₂ nanojunctions. Science Advances. 2025, 11 (5), eadq5712. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adq5712

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The recent observations of fractional quantum anomalous Hall effect in twisted bilayer molybdenum ditelluride (tMoTe2) has confirmed the existence of fractional Chern insulators (FCI) in the absence of magnetic fields. The creation of superconductivity (SC) in FCIs can in principle lead to new electronic states of matter in unexplored conditions. However, it is challenging to create SC using traditional means in such air sensitive two-dimensional (2D) moiré materials. Here, we introduce a new strategy for quantum engineering of SC in moiré materials based on direct, on-chip, and fully encapsulated 2D growth. We achieve robust and designable SC in Pd-metalized tMoTe2 and observe anomalous superconducting effects in short and high-quality junctions across ~ 20 moiré cells. The junction surprisingly exhibits enhanced, instead of weakened, SC with both a higher critical temperature and a higher critical magnetic field compared to its adjacent PdxMoTe2 superconductor. The critical current further exhibits a striking V-shaped minimum at zero magnetic field. All these behaviors are unexpected in conventional Josephson junctions and are indeed absent in junctions of natural bilayer MoTe2 created using the same approach. We discuss implications of these observations, including the possible formation of mixed even- and odd-parity SC pairing at the moiré junctions. Our results establish a route to engineering superconducting moiré junctions and pave the way for studying SC with fractionalized electrons.

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