Electron-phonon coupling and superconductivity in the doped topological crystalline insulator (Pb0.5Sn0.5)1–xInxTe

Sapkota, A.; Li, Y.; Winn, B. L.; Podlesnyak, A.; Xu, Guangyong; Xu, Zhijun; Ran, Kejing; Chen, Tong; Sun, Jian; Wen, Jinsheng; Wu, Lihua; Yang, Jihui; Li, Qiang; Gu, G. D.; Tranquada, J. M.

doi:10.1103/physrevb.102.104511

Title: Electron-phonon coupling and superconductivity in the doped topological crystalline insulator ${({Pb}_{0.5} {Sn}_{0.5})}_{1 - x} {In}_{x} Te$

Journal Article · Wed Sep 23 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Physical Review B

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.102.104511· OSTI ID:1677658

^[1]; Li, Y. ^[1]; Winn, B. L. ^[2];

^[2]; Xu, Guangyong ^[3]; Xu, Zhijun ^[4]; Ran, Kejing ^[5]; Chen, Tong ^[6];

^[6]; Wen, Jinsheng ^[6];

^[7]; Yang, Jihui ^[7]; Li, Qiang ^[1]; Gu, G. D. ^[1];

^[1]

Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Dept.
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Neutron Scattering Division
National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States). Center for Neutron Research
National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States). Center for Neutron Research; Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
ShanghaiTech Univ. (China). School of Physical Science and Technology
Nanjing Univ. (China)
Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)

We present a neutron-scattering study of phonons in single crystals of (Pb0.5Sn0.5)1-xInxTe with x=0 (metallic, but nonsuperconducting) and x=0.2 (nonmetallic normal state, but superconducting). We map the phonon dispersions (more completely for x=0) and find general consistency with theoretical calculations, except for the transverse and longitudinal optical (LO) modes at the Brillouin-zone center. At low temperature, both modes are strongly damped but sit at a finite energy (≈4meV in both samples), shifting to higher energy at room temperature. These modes are soft due to a proximate structural instability driven by the sensitivity of Pb-Te and Sn-Te p-orbital hybridization to off-center displacements of the metal atoms. The impact of the soft optical modes on the low-energy acoustic modes is inferred from the low thermal conductivity, especially at low temperature. Given that the strongest electron-phonon coupling is predicted for the LO mode, which should be similar for both studied compositions, it is intriguing that only the In-doped crystal is superconducting. In addition, we observe elastic diffuse (Huang) scattering that is qualitatively explained by the difference in Pb-Te and Sn-Te bond lengths within the lattice of randomly distributed Pb and Sn sites. We also confirm the presence of anomalous diffuse low-energy atomic vibrations that we speculatively attribute to local fluctuations of individual Pb atoms between off-center sites.

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Research Organization:: Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province; National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0012704; 11822405; 11674157; BK20180006; 1915933; AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 1677658

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1797627

Report Number(s):: BNL-219950-2020-JAAM; TRN: US2204014

Journal Information:: Physical Review B, Vol. 102, Issue 10; ISSN 2469-9950

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Title: Electron-phonon coupling and superconductivity in the doped topological crystalline insulator ${({Pb}_{0.5} {Sn}_{0.5})}_{1 - x} {In}_{x} Te$