Proximity-induced superconducting gap in the quantum spin Hall edge state of monolayer WTe2

Lüpke, Felix; Waters, Dacen; de la Barrera, Sergio C.; Widom, Michael; Mandrus, David G.; Yan, Jiaqiang; Feenstra, Randall M.; Hunt, Benjamin M.

doi:10.1038/s41567-020-0816-x

Title: Proximity-induced superconducting gap in the quantum spin Hall edge state of monolayer WTe2

Abstract

The quantum spin Hall insulator is characterized by a bandgap in the two-dimensional (2D) interior and helical 1D edge states^1,2,3. Inducing superconductivity in the helical edge state results in a 1D topological superconductor, a highly sought-after state of matter at the core of many proposals for topological quantum computing⁴. In the present study, we report the coexistence of superconductivity and the quantum spin Hall edge state in a van der Waals heterostructure, by placing a monolayer of 1T'-WTe₂, a quantum spin Hall insulator^1,2,3, on a van der Waals superconductor, NbSe₂. Using scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy (STM/STS), we demonstrate that the WTe₂ monolayer exhibits a proximity-induced superconducting gap due to the underlying superconductor and that the spectroscopic features of the quantum spin Hall edge state remain intact. Taken together, these observations provide conclusive evidence for proximity-induced superconductivity in the quantum spin Hall edge state in WTe₂, a crucial step towards realizing 1D topological superconductivity and Majorana bound states in this van der Waals material platform.

Authors:

Lüpke, Felix ^[1]; Waters, Dacen ^[1]; de la Barrera, Sergio C. ^[1];

^[1]; Mandrus, David G. ^[2];

^[3]; Feenstra, Randall M. ^[1];

^[1]

Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Publication Date:: Mon Mar 16 00:00:00 EDT 2020

Research Org.:: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

OSTI Identifier:: 1649055

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Nature Physics

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 16; Journal Issue: 5; Journal ID: ISSN 1745-2473

Publisher:: Nature Publishing Group (NPG)

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY

Citation Formats


                    Lüpke, Felix, Waters, Dacen, de la Barrera, Sergio C., Widom, Michael, Mandrus, David G., Yan, Jiaqiang, Feenstra, Randall M., and Hunt, Benjamin M. Proximity-induced superconducting gap in the quantum spin Hall edge state of monolayer WTe2.  United States: N. p., 2020. 
Web.  doi:10.1038/s41567-020-0816-x.

Copy to clipboard


                    Lüpke, Felix, Waters, Dacen, de la Barrera, Sergio C., Widom, Michael, Mandrus, David G., Yan, Jiaqiang, Feenstra, Randall M., & Hunt, Benjamin M. Proximity-induced superconducting gap in the quantum spin Hall edge state of monolayer WTe2.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-020-0816-x

Copy to clipboard


                    Lüpke, Felix, Waters, Dacen, de la Barrera, Sergio C., Widom, Michael, Mandrus, David G., Yan, Jiaqiang, Feenstra, Randall M., and Hunt, Benjamin M. Mon .  
"Proximity-induced superconducting gap in the quantum spin Hall edge state of monolayer WTe2".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-020-0816-x.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1649055.

Copy to clipboard


                    
@article{osti_1649055,

  title        = {Proximity-induced superconducting gap in the quantum spin Hall edge state of monolayer WTe2},

  author       = {Lüpke, Felix and Waters, Dacen and de la Barrera, Sergio C. and Widom, Michael and Mandrus, David G. and Yan, Jiaqiang and Feenstra, Randall M. and Hunt, Benjamin M.},

  abstractNote = {The quantum spin Hall insulator is characterized by a bandgap in the two-dimensional (2D) interior and helical 1D edge states1,2,3. Inducing superconductivity in the helical edge state results in a 1D topological superconductor, a highly sought-after state of matter at the core of many proposals for topological quantum computing4. In the present study, we report the coexistence of superconductivity and the quantum spin Hall edge state in a van der Waals heterostructure, by placing a monolayer of 1T'-WTe2, a quantum spin Hall insulator1,2,3, on a van der Waals superconductor, NbSe2. Using scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy (STM/STS), we demonstrate that the WTe2 monolayer exhibits a proximity-induced superconducting gap due to the underlying superconductor and that the spectroscopic features of the quantum spin Hall edge state remain intact. Taken together, these observations provide conclusive evidence for proximity-induced superconductivity in the quantum spin Hall edge state in WTe2, a crucial step towards realizing 1D topological superconductivity and Majorana bound states in this van der Waals material platform.},

  doi          = {10.1038/s41567-020-0816-x},

  journal      = {Nature Physics},

  number       = 5,

  volume       = 16,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Mon Mar 16 00:00:00 EDT 2020},

  month        = {Mon Mar 16 00:00:00 EDT 2020}

}

Copy to clipboard

Journal Article:

Free Publicly Available Full Text

Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Publisher's Version of Record

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-020-0816-x

Other availability

Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 50 works

Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Save / Share:

Export Metadata

Save to My Library

Works referenced in this record:

Direct visualization of a two-dimensional topological insulator in the single-layer $1 T^{'} - WT e_{2}$
journal, July 2017

Jia, Zhen-Yu; Song, Ye-Heng; Li, Xiang-Bing
Physical Review B, Vol. 96, Issue 4
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.96.041108

Microfocus Laser–Angle-Resolved Photoemission on Encapsulated Mono-, Bi-, and Few-Layer 1T′-WTe ₂
journal, December 2018

Cucchi, Irène; Gutiérrez-Lezama, Ignacio; Cappelli, Edoardo
Nano Letters, Vol. 19, Issue 1
DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b04534

Proximity-Induced Superconductivity with Subgap Anomaly in Type II Weyl Semi-Metal WTe ₂
journal, November 2018

Li, Qiao; He, Chaocheng; Wang, Yaojia
Nano Letters, Vol. 18, Issue 12
DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b03924

Observation of the quantum spin Hall effect up to 100 kelvin in a monolayer crystal
journal, January 2018

Wu, Sanfeng; Fatemi, Valla; Gibson, Quinn D.
Science, Vol. 359, Issue 6371
DOI: 10.1126/science.aan6003

Evaluation of Spin-Triplet Superconductivity in Sr ₂ RuO ₄
journal, January 2012

Maeno, Yoshiteru; Kittaka, Shunichiro; Nomura, Takuji
Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, Vol. 81, Issue 1
DOI: 10.1143/JPSJ.81.011009

Observation of a Majorana zero mode in a topologically protected edge channel
journal, June 2019

Jäck, Berthold; Xie, Yonglong; Li, Jian
Science, Vol. 364, Issue 6447
DOI: 10.1126/science.aax1444

Electrically tunable low-density superconductivity in a monolayer topological insulator
journal, October 2018

Fatemi, Valla; Wu, Sanfeng; Cao, Yuan
Science, Vol. 362, Issue 6417
DOI: 10.1126/science.aar4642

Majorana Zero Mode Detected with Spin Selective Andreev Reflection in the Vortex of a Topological Superconductor
journal, June 2016

Sun, Hao-Hua; Zhang, Kai-Wen; Hu, Lun-Hui
Physical Review Letters, Vol. 116, Issue 25
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.257003

Gapless Andreev bound states in the quantum spin Hall insulator HgTe
journal, August 2016

Bocquillon, Erwann; Deacon, Russell S.; Wiedenmann, Jonas
Nature Nanotechnology, Vol. 12, Issue 2
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2016.159

Induced superconductivity in the quantum spin Hall edge
journal, August 2014

Hart, Sean; Ren, Hechen; Wagner, Timo
Nature Physics, Vol. 10, Issue 9
DOI: 10.1038/nphys3036

New directions in the pursuit of Majorana fermions in solid state systems
journal, June 2012

Alicea, Jason
Reports on Progress in Physics, Vol. 75, Issue 7
DOI: 10.1088/0034-4885/75/7/076501

Hard gap in a normal layer coupled to a superconductor
journal, July 2016

Reeg, Christopher R.; Maslov, Dmitrii L.
Physical Review B, Vol. 94, Issue 2
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.94.020501

Self-navigation of a scanning tunneling microscope tip toward a micron-sized graphene sample
journal, July 2011

Li, Guohong; Luican, Adina; Andrei, Eva Y.
Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 82, Issue 7
DOI: 10.1063/1.3605664

Unpaired Majorana fermions in quantum wires
journal, October 2001

Kitaev, A. Yu
Physics-Uspekhi, Vol. 44, Issue 10S
DOI: 10.1070/1063-7869/44/10S/S29

Edge conduction in monolayer WTe2
journal, April 2017

Fei, Zaiyao; Palomaki, Tauno; Wu, Sanfeng
Nature Physics, Vol. 13, Issue 7
DOI: 10.1038/nphys4091

Quantum spin Hall effect in two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides
journal, November 2014

Qian, X.; Liu, J.; Fu, L.
Science, Vol. 346, Issue 6215
DOI: 10.1126/science.1256815

Inducing Strong Superconductivity in WTe ₂ by a Proximity Effect
journal, June 2018

Huang, Ce; Narayan, Awadhesh; Zhang, Enze
ACS Nano, Vol. 12, Issue 7
DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.8b03102

Superconducting Proximity Effect and Majorana Fermions at the Surface of a Topological Insulator
journal, March 2008

Fu, Liang; Kane, C. L.
Physical Review Letters, Vol. 100, Issue 9
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.096407

Gate-induced superconductivity in a monolayer topological insulator
journal, October 2018

Sajadi, Ebrahim; Palomaki, Tauno; Fei, Zaiyao
Science, Vol. 362, Issue 6417
DOI: 10.1126/science.aar4426

Experimental investigation of superconductivity in 2H-NbSe2 single crystal
journal, July 1976

Garoche, P.; Veyssié, J. J.; Manuel, P.
Solid State Communications, Vol. 19, Issue 5
DOI: 10.1016/0038-1098(76)91190-X

The Coexistence of Superconductivity and Topological Order in the Bi ₂ Se ₃ Thin Films
journal, March 2012

Wang, Mei-Xiao; Liu, Canhua; Xu, Jin-Peng
Science, Vol. 336, Issue 6077
DOI: 10.1126/science.1216466

Majorana zero modes and topological quantum computation
journal, October 2015

Sarma, Sankar Das; Freedman, Michael; Nayak, Chetan
npj Quantum Information, Vol. 1, Issue 1
DOI: 10.1038/npjqi.2015.1

Unusual Suppression of the Superconducting Energy Gap and Critical Temperature in Atomically Thin NbSe ₂
journal, March 2018

Khestanova, E.; Birkbeck, J.; Zhu, M.
Nano Letters, Vol. 18, Issue 4
DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b00443

Imaging quantum spin Hall edges in monolayer WTe ₂
journal, February 2019

Shi, Yanmeng; Kahn, Joshua; Niu, Ben
Science Advances, Vol. 5, Issue 2
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aat8799

Observation of topological states residing at step edges of WTe2
journal, September 2017

Peng, Lang; Yuan, Yuan; Li, Gang
Nature Communications, Vol. 8, Issue 1
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00745-8

Josephson current and noise at a superconductor/quantum-spin-Hall-insulator/superconductor junction
journal, April 2009

Fu, Liang; Kane, C. L.
Physical Review B, Vol. 79, Issue 16
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.79.161408

High-Quality Magnetotransport in Graphene Using the Edge-Free Corbino Geometry
journal, April 2019

Zeng, Y.; Li, J. I. A.; Dietrich, S. A.
Physical Review Letters, Vol. 122, Issue 13
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.137701

Topological superconductors: a review
journal, May 2017

Sato, Masatoshi; Ando, Yoichi
Reports on Progress in Physics, Vol. 80, Issue 7
DOI: 10.1088/1361-6633/aa6ac7

Quantum spin Hall state in monolayer 1T'-WTe2
journal, June 2017

Tang, Shujie; Zhang, Chaofan; Wong, Dillon
Nature Physics, Vol. 13, Issue 7
DOI: 10.1038/nphys4174

Similar Records in DOE PAGES and OSTI.GOV collections:

A high-temperature ferromagnetic topological insulating phase by proximity coupling

Journal Article Katmis, Ferhat ; Lauter, Valeria ; Nogueira, Flavio S. ; ... - Nature (London)

Topological insulators are insulating materials that display conducting surface states protected by time-reversal symmetry^1,2, wherein electron spins are locked to their momentum. This unique property opens up new opportunities for creating next-generation electronic, spintronic and quantum computation devices^3,4,5. Introducing ferromagnetic order into a topological insulator system without compromising its distinctive quantum coherent features could lead to the realization of several predicted physical phenomena^6,7. In particular, achieving robust long-range magnetic order at the surface of the topological insulator at specific locations without introducing spin-scattering centres could open up new possibilities for devices. Here we use spin-polarized neutron reflectivity experiments to demonstratemore »« less
Cited by 301
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17635

Full Text Available
Continuous-wave upconverting nanoparticle microlasers

Journal Article Fernandez-Bravo, Angel ; Yao, Kaiyuan ; Barnard, Edward S. ; ... - Nature Nanotechnology

Reducing the size of lasers to microscale dimensions enables new technologies¹ that are specifically tailored for operation in confined spaces ranging from ultra-high-speed microprocessors² to live brain tissue³. However, reduced cavity sizes increase optical losses and require greater input powers to reach lasing thresholds. Multiphoton-pumped lasers^4,5,6,7 that have been miniaturized using nanomaterials such as lanthanide-doped upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs)⁸ as lasing media require high pump intensities to achieve ultraviolet and visible emission and therefore operate under pulsed excitation schemes. Here, we make use of the recently described energy-looping excitation mechanism in Tm³⁺-doped UCNPs⁹ to achieve continuous-wave upconverted lasing action in stand-alonemore »« less
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-018-0161-8
Reply to: On the ferroelectricity of CH₃NH₃PbI₃ perovskites

Journal Article Liu, Yongtao ; Collins, Liam ; Proksch, Roger ; ... - Nature Materials

First, we thank Schulz et al.¹ for their response to our Article². Schulz et al. raise a few concerns regarding the piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) measurements and their interpretation, as well as the crystal orientation, which they claim brings into question our central conclusions. Accordingly, Schulz et al. conclude that ferroelectricity is responsible for the origin of the PFM signal. However, we do not agree with this conclusion as there is no measurable electromechanical contrast above 1 pm V^-1 and there are strong mechanical and chemical variations inside the twin domains that, in our opinion, are behind the measured PFMmore » signal.« less
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-019-0481-6

Full Text Available
A Model for Approximately Stretched-Exponential Relaxation with Continuously Varying Stretching Exponents

Journal Article Paulsen, Joseph D. ; Nagel, Sidney R. - Journal of Statistical Physics

Relaxation in glasses is typically approximated by a stretched-exponential form: $f(t) = A \exp [-(t/\tau )^{\beta }]$. Here, we show that the relaxation in a model of sheared non-Brownian suspensions developed by Corté et al. (Nat Phys 4:420–424, 2008) can be well approximated by a stretched exponential with an exponent $\beta $ that depends on the strain amplitude: $0.25< \beta < 1$. In a one-dimensional version of the model, we show how the relaxation originates from density fluctuations in the initial particle configurations. Our analysis is in good agreement with numerical simulations and reveals a functional form for the relaxationmore »« less
Cited by 2
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10955-017-1723-0

Full Text Available
Weaker land–climate feedbacks from nutrient uptake during photosynthesis-inactive periods

Journal Article Riley, W. J. ; Zhu, Q. ; Tang, J. Y. - Nature Climate Change

Terrestrial carbon–climate feedbacks depend on two large and opposing fluxes—soil organic matter decomposition and photosynthesis—that are tightly regulated by nutrients^1,2. Earth system models (ESMs) participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 represented nutrient dynamics poorly^1,3, rendering predictions of twenty-first century carbon–climate feedbacks highly uncertain. Here, we use a new land model to quantify the effects of observed plant nutrient uptake mechanisms missing in most other ESMs. In particular, we estimate the global role of root nutrient competition with microbes and abiotic processes during periods without photosynthesis. Nitrogen and phosphorus uptake during these periods account for 45 and 43%,more »« less
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0325-4

Similar Records

Title: Proximity-induced superconducting gap in the quantum spin Hall edge state of monolayer WTe2

Abstract

Citation Formats

Direct visualization of a two-dimensional topological insulator in the single-layer 1 T ′ − WT e 2 journal, July 2017

Microfocus Laser–Angle-Resolved Photoemission on Encapsulated Mono-, Bi-, and Few-Layer 1T′-WTe 2 journal, December 2018

Proximity-Induced Superconductivity with Subgap Anomaly in Type II Weyl Semi-Metal WTe 2 journal, November 2018

Observation of the quantum spin Hall effect up to 100 kelvin in a monolayer crystal journal, January 2018

Evaluation of Spin-Triplet Superconductivity in Sr 2 RuO 4 journal, January 2012

Observation of a Majorana zero mode in a topologically protected edge channel journal, June 2019

Electrically tunable low-density superconductivity in a monolayer topological insulator journal, October 2018

Majorana Zero Mode Detected with Spin Selective Andreev Reflection in the Vortex of a Topological Superconductor journal, June 2016

Gapless Andreev bound states in the quantum spin Hall insulator HgTe journal, August 2016

Induced superconductivity in the quantum spin Hall edge journal, August 2014

New directions in the pursuit of Majorana fermions in solid state systems journal, June 2012

Hard gap in a normal layer coupled to a superconductor journal, July 2016

Self-navigation of a scanning tunneling microscope tip toward a micron-sized graphene sample journal, July 2011

Unpaired Majorana fermions in quantum wires journal, October 2001

Edge conduction in monolayer WTe2 journal, April 2017

Quantum spin Hall effect in two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides journal, November 2014

Inducing Strong Superconductivity in WTe 2 by a Proximity Effect journal, June 2018

Superconducting Proximity Effect and Majorana Fermions at the Surface of a Topological Insulator journal, March 2008

Gate-induced superconductivity in a monolayer topological insulator journal, October 2018

Experimental investigation of superconductivity in 2H-NbSe2 single crystal journal, July 1976

The Coexistence of Superconductivity and Topological Order in the Bi 2 Se 3 Thin Films journal, March 2012

Majorana zero modes and topological quantum computation journal, October 2015

Unusual Suppression of the Superconducting Energy Gap and Critical Temperature in Atomically Thin NbSe 2 journal, March 2018

Imaging quantum spin Hall edges in monolayer WTe 2 journal, February 2019

Observation of topological states residing at step edges of WTe2 journal, September 2017

Josephson current and noise at a superconductor/quantum-spin-Hall-insulator/superconductor junction journal, April 2009

High-Quality Magnetotransport in Graphene Using the Edge-Free Corbino Geometry journal, April 2019

Topological superconductors: a review journal, May 2017

Quantum spin Hall state in monolayer 1T'-WTe2 journal, June 2017

Direct visualization of a two-dimensional topological insulator in the single-layer $1 T^{'} - WT e_{2}$
journal, July 2017

Microfocus Laser–Angle-Resolved Photoemission on Encapsulated Mono-, Bi-, and Few-Layer 1T′-WTe ₂
journal, December 2018

Proximity-Induced Superconductivity with Subgap Anomaly in Type II Weyl Semi-Metal WTe ₂
journal, November 2018

Observation of the quantum spin Hall effect up to 100 kelvin in a monolayer crystal
journal, January 2018

Evaluation of Spin-Triplet Superconductivity in Sr ₂ RuO ₄
journal, January 2012

Observation of a Majorana zero mode in a topologically protected edge channel
journal, June 2019

Electrically tunable low-density superconductivity in a monolayer topological insulator
journal, October 2018

Majorana Zero Mode Detected with Spin Selective Andreev Reflection in the Vortex of a Topological Superconductor
journal, June 2016

Gapless Andreev bound states in the quantum spin Hall insulator HgTe
journal, August 2016

Induced superconductivity in the quantum spin Hall edge
journal, August 2014

New directions in the pursuit of Majorana fermions in solid state systems
journal, June 2012

Hard gap in a normal layer coupled to a superconductor
journal, July 2016

Self-navigation of a scanning tunneling microscope tip toward a micron-sized graphene sample
journal, July 2011

Unpaired Majorana fermions in quantum wires
journal, October 2001

Edge conduction in monolayer WTe2
journal, April 2017

Quantum spin Hall effect in two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides
journal, November 2014

Inducing Strong Superconductivity in WTe ₂ by a Proximity Effect
journal, June 2018

Superconducting Proximity Effect and Majorana Fermions at the Surface of a Topological Insulator
journal, March 2008

Gate-induced superconductivity in a monolayer topological insulator
journal, October 2018

Experimental investigation of superconductivity in 2H-NbSe2 single crystal
journal, July 1976

The Coexistence of Superconductivity and Topological Order in the Bi ₂ Se ₃ Thin Films
journal, March 2012

Majorana zero modes and topological quantum computation
journal, October 2015

Unusual Suppression of the Superconducting Energy Gap and Critical Temperature in Atomically Thin NbSe ₂
journal, March 2018

Imaging quantum spin Hall edges in monolayer WTe ₂
journal, February 2019

Observation of topological states residing at step edges of WTe2
journal, September 2017

Josephson current and noise at a superconductor/quantum-spin-Hall-insulator/superconductor junction
journal, April 2009

High-Quality Magnetotransport in Graphene Using the Edge-Free Corbino Geometry
journal, April 2019

Topological superconductors: a review
journal, May 2017

Quantum spin Hall state in monolayer 1T'-WTe2
journal, June 2017