A novel superconducting family by design: how can we make superconductivity and magnetism coexist in one material?

In the battle between magnetism and superconductivity, magnetism wins so often that only a handful of magnetic superconductors are known. In this context, here we report our characterization of YbxPt5P, - providing experimental evidence for the possible coexistence of both magnetism and superconductivity in this material. Comparison of samples with different Yb stoichiometry shows that the relative strengths of magnetism and superconductivity can be tuned. The likely coexistence and tunability of such strongly competing electronic states, along with the presence of strong spin orbit coupling due to the large amount of Pt present, makes YbxPt5P a remarkable material and opens the door to a new family of magnetic superconductors.