近日，英国剑桥大学Alexander G. Eaton团队报道了UTe₂中的电控超导记忆效应。2026年9月16日出版的《自然》杂志发表了这项成果。

多相超导体——即拥有两种或更多不同超导相的材料——极为罕见。例子包括重费米子CeRh₂As₂以及一些铀化合物，如UPt₃和URhGe。在多相p波超流体³He中，复杂涡旋动力学可发生在A相和B相之间的相界处。

研究组分析了p波超导体候选材料UTe₂。通过施加磁场以进入跨越两个不同超导相的中间区域，研究组发现直流电流脉冲可将该材料推入和推出一种具有增强临界电流密度Jc的亚稳态。这种开关行为可通过刺激的强度和持续时间控制，且系统能在较长时间内“记住”自己处于高Jc态还是低Jc态。

研究组将这一现象解释为扰动下无序非平衡玻璃态涡旋态的淬灭，该态具有更强的钉扎力，因而具有更高的Jc。通过逐渐增加电流进行退火，可重新达到平衡涡旋晶格，使其返回原始状态。这种记忆功能似乎并不需要邻近的磁性或半导体界面，而是UTe₂的一种内禀性质，根植于超导序本身。该发现凸显了多相量子涡旋物质丰富的复杂性。

附：英文原文

Title: Electrically controllable superconducting memory effect in UTe2

Author: Wu, Zheyu, Chen, Hanyi, Long, Mengmeng, Shaffer, Daniel, Chichinadze, Dmitry V., Cabala, Andrej, Weinberger, Theodore I., Hickey, Alexander J., Pu, Jinxu, Graf, Dave, Sechovsk, Vladimir, Valika, Michal, Li, Gang, Zhou, Rui, Grosche, F. Malte, Eaton, Alexander G.

Issue&Volume: 2026-09-16

Abstract: Multiphase superconductors—materials that host two or more distinct superconductive phases—are exceptionally rare. Examples include heavy-fermion CeRh2As2 alongside some uranium compounds such as UPt3 and URhGe (refs.1,2,3). In the multiphase p-wave superfluid 3He, complex vortex dynamics can occur at the phase boundary between the A and B phases4,5. Here we study the p-wave superconductor candidate UTe2 (refs.6,7,8). On applying a magnetic field to access an intermediate regime straddling two distinct superconducting phases9,10, we find that direct current pulses can push the material in and out of a metastable state that has an enhanced critical current density Jc. This switching is controllable by the strength and duration of the stimuli, with the system ‘remembering’ whether it is in the high or low Jc state for extended periods. We interpret this phenomenology to be due to the quenching of a disordered out-of-equilibrium glassy vortex state under perturbation, which has stronger pinning forces and thus higher Jc. The equilibrium vortex lattice is reattained by annealing the system with a gradual current ramp, returning it to the original state. Rather than requiring proximate magnetic or semiconducting interfaces11,12,13,14, this memory functionality seems to be an intrinsic property of UTe2 rooted in the superconducting order itself. Our findings underscore the rich complexity of multiphase quantum vortex matter.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-11015-3

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-11015-3