Proximity-effect-induced Superconducting Gap in Topological Surface States – A Point Contact Spectroscopy Study of NbSe2/Bi2Se3 Superconductor-Topological Insulator Heterostructures

Dai, Wenqing; Richardella, Anthony; Du, Renzhong; Zhao, Weiwei; Liu, Xin; Liu, C. X.; Huang, Song -Hsun; Sankar, Raman; Chou, Fangcheng; Samarth, Nitin; Li, Qi

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-07990-3

Title: Proximity-effect-induced Superconducting Gap in Topological Surface States – A Point Contact Spectroscopy Study of NbSe₂/Bi₂Se₃ Superconductor-Topological Insulator Heterostructures

Journal Article · Wed Aug 09 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Scientific Reports

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-07990-3· OSTI ID:1465870

^[1]; Richardella, Anthony ^[1]; Du, Renzhong ^[1]; Zhao, Weiwei ^[1]; Liu, Xin ^[1]; Liu, C. X. ^[1]; Huang, Song -Hsun ^[2]; Sankar, Raman ^[2]; Chou, Fangcheng ^[2];

^[1];

^[1]

The Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
National Taiwan Univ., Taipei (Taiwan)

Proximity-effect-induced superconductivity was studied in epitaxial topological insulator Bi₂Se₃ thin films grown on superconducting NbSe₂ single crystals. A point contact spectroscopy (PCS) method was used at low temperatures down to 40 mK. An induced superconducting gap in Bi₂Se₃ was observed in the spectra, which decreased with increasing Bi₂Se₃ layer thickness, consistent with the proximity effect in the bulk states of Bi₂Se₃ induced by NbSe₂. At very low temperatures, an extra point contact feature which may correspond to a second energy gap appeared in the spectrum. For a 16 quintuple layer Bi₂Se₃ on NbSe₂ sample, the bulk state gap value near the top surface is ~159 μeV, while the second gap value is ~120 μeV at 40 mK. The second gap value decreased with increasing Bi₂Se₃ layer thickness, but the ratio between the second gap and the bulk state gap remained about the same for different Bi₂Se₃ thicknesses. It is plausible that this is due to superconductivity in Bi₂Se₃ topological surface states induced through the bulk states. In conclusion, the two induced gaps in the PCS measurement are consistent with the three-dimensional bulk state and the two-dimensional surface state superconducting gaps observed in the angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) measurement.

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Research Organization:: Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: FG02-08ER46531; SC0005042

OSTI ID:: 1465870

Journal Information:: Scientific Reports, Vol. 7, Issue 1; ISSN 2045-2322

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 19 works

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Interface Characterization and Control of 2D Materials and Heterostructures Liu, Xiaolong; Hersam, Mark C. Advanced Materials, Vol. 30, Issue 39 https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201801586	journal	July 2018
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Title: Proximity-effect-induced Superconducting Gap in Topological Surface States – A Point Contact Spectroscopy Study of NbSe₂/Bi₂Se₃ Superconductor-Topological Insulator Heterostructures