Thermodynamic evidence for nematic superconductivity in Cu sub(x)Bi sub(2)Se sub(3)

In condensed matter physics, spontaneous symmetry breaking has been a key concept, and discoveries of new types of broken symmetries have greatly increased our understanding of matter. Recently, electronic nematicity, novel spontaneous rotational-symmetry breaking leading to an emergence of a special direction in electron liquids, has been attracting significant attention. Here, we show bulk thermodynamic evidence for nematic superconductivity, in which the nematicity emerges in the superconducting gap amplitude, in Cu sub(x)Bi sub(2)Se sub(3). Based on high-resolution calorimetry of single-crystalline samples under accurate two-axis control of the magnetic field direction, we discovered clear two-fold symmetry in the specific heat and in the upper critical field despite the trigonal symmetry of the lattice. Nematic superconductivity for this material should possess a unique topological nature associated with odd parity. Thus, our findings establish a new class of spontaneously symmetry-broken states of matter-namely, odd-parity nematic superconductivity.