Surface superconductivity in the type II Weyl semimetal TaIrTe4

Xing, Ying; Shao, Zhibin; Ge, Jun; Luo, Jiawei; Wang, Jinhua; Zhu, Zengwei; Liu, Jun; Wang, Yong; Zhao, Zhiying; Yan, Jiaqiang; Mandrus, David; Yan, Binghai; Liu, Xiong-Jun; Pan, Minghu; Wang, Jian

doi:10.1093/nsr/nwz204

Surface superconductivity in the type II Weyl semimetal TaIrTe₄

Journal Article · Sun Dec 15 23:00:00 EST 2019 · National Science Review

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwz204· OSTI ID:1651249

^[1]; Shao, Zhibin ^[2]; Ge, Jun ^[3]; Luo, Jiawei ^[3]; Wang, Jinhua ^[4]; Zhu, Zengwei ^[4]; Liu, Jun ^[5]; Wang, Yong ^[5]; Zhao, Zhiying ^[6]; ^[7]; Mandrus, David ^[7]; Yan, Binghai ^[8]; Liu, Xiong-Jun ^[9]; Pan, Minghu ^[10]; Wang, Jian ^[9]

China Univ. of Petroleum, Beijing (China); Peking Univ., Beijing (China). International Center for Quantum Materials
School of Physics and Information Technology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710119, China
Peking Univ., Beijing (China). International Center for Quantum Materials
Huazhong Univ. of Science and Technology, Wuhan (China); Huazhong Univ. of Science and Technology, Wuhan (China). Wuhan National High Magnetic Field Center
Zhejiang Univ., Hangzhou (China). State Key Lab. of Silicon Materials, Center of Electron Microscopy
Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Weizmann Inst. of Science, Rehovot (Israel)
Peking Univ., Beijing (China). International Center for Quantum Materials; Univ. of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). CAS Center for Excellence in Topological Quantum Computation; Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences, (China); Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter (China)
Shaanxi Normal Univ., Xi’an (China); Huazhong Univ. of Science and Technology, Wuhan (China)

The search for unconventional superconductivity in Weyl semimetal materials is currently an exciting pursuit, since such superconducting phases could potentially be topologically non-trivial and host exotic Majorana modes. The layered material TaIrTe₄ is a newly predicted time-reversal invariant type II Weyl semimetal with the minimum number of Weyl points. Here, we report the discovery of surface superconductivity in Weyl semimetal TaIrTe₄. Our scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS) visualizes Fermi arc surface states of TaIrTe₄that are consistent with the previous angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy results. By a systematic study based on STS at ultralow temperature, we observe uniform superconducting gaps on the sample surface. The superconductivity is further confirmed by electrical transport measurements at ultralow temperature, with an onset transition temperature (T_c) up to 1.54 K being observed. The normalized upper critical field h*(T/T_c) behavior and the stability of the superconductivity against the ferromagnet indicate that the discovered superconductivity is unconventional with the p-wave pairing. The systematic STS, and thickness- and angular-dependent transport measurements reveal that the detected superconductivity is quasi-1D and occurs in the surface states. The discovery of the surface superconductivity in TaIrTe₄ provides a new novel platform to explore topological superconductivity and Majorana modes.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; National Science Foundation (NSF); National Key R&D Program of China; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NNSFC)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 1651249

Journal Information:: National Science Review, Journal Name: National Science Review Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 7; ISSN 2095-5138

Publisher:: China Science PublishingCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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