• Accepted Paper

Observation of time-reversal symmetry breaking in the type-I superconductor YbSb2

Anshu Kataria, Shashank Srivastava, Dibyendu Samanta, Pushpendra Yadav, Poulami Manna, Suhani Sharma, Priya Mishra, Joel Barker, Adrian D. Hillier, Amit Agarwal, Sudeep Kumar Ghosh, and Ravi Prakash Singh

Phys. Rev. Lett. - Accepted 3 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/drzq-lfn5

Abstract

The spontaneous breaking of time-reversal symmetry is a hallmark of unconventional superconductivity, typically observed in type-II superconductors. Here, we report evidence of time-reversal symmetry breaking in the type-I superconductor YbSb2. Zero-field μSR measurements reveal spontaneous internal magnetic fields emerging just below the superconducting transition, while transverse-field μSR confirms a fully gapped type-I superconducting state. Our first-principles calculations identify YbSb2 as a 2 topological metal hosting a Dirac nodal line near the Fermi level. Symmetry analysis within the Ginzburg–Landau framework indicates an internally antisymmetric nonunitary triplet (INT) state as the most probable superconducting ground state. Calculations based on an effective low-energy model further suggest that this INT state may host gapless Majorana surface modes, pointing to the possibility of topological superconductivity in YbSb2. Our results highlight YbSb2 as a unique material platform where type-I superconductivity coexists with triplet-pairing and nontrivial topology.

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