Robust topological state against magnetic impurities observed in the superconductor PbTaSe2

Multer, Daniel; Yin, Jia-Xin; Zhang, Songtian S.; Zheng, Hao; Chang, Tay-Rong; Bian, Guang; Sankar, Raman; Hasan, M. Zahid

doi:10.1103/physrevb.104.075145

Robust topological state against magnetic impurities observed in the superconductor PbTaSe₂

Journal Article · Tue Aug 24 00:00:00 EDT 2021 · Physical Review B

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.104.075145· OSTI ID:1825495

Multer, Daniel ^[1]; ^[1]; Zhang, Songtian S. ^[1]; Zheng, Hao ^[2]; Chang, Tay-Rong ^[3]; Bian, Guang ^[4]; Sankar, Raman ^[5]; Hasan, M. Zahid ^[6]

Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)
Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ. (China)
National Cheng Kung Univ., Tainan City (Taiwan); National Taiwan Univ., Taipei (Taiwan)
Univ. of Missouri, Columbia, MO (United States)
Academia Sinica, Taipei (Taiwan); National Taiwan Univ., Taipei (Taiwan)
Princeton Univ., NJ (United States) ; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Magnetic impurities deposited on topological superconductor candidate PbTaSe₂ can introduce a nonsplitting zero-energy state inside the superconducting gap, which has been proposed as a field-free platform for topological zero modes. However, it is still unclear how robust the topological state in PbTaSe₂ is against magnetic impurities, which is related to the topological nature of the zero-energy state as well as its potential for quantum computation. In this paper, we use scanning tunneling microscopy to study the topological surface state in the normal state of PbTaSe₂ under the perturbation of magnetic impurities. We visualize the quasiparticle interference (QPI) arising from the topological surface state. We then deposit Fe impurities on the surface to form atomic Fe adatoms. We find that each Fe adatom sits at a unique interstitial position on the surface and features a local state at high energies, both of which are consistent with our first-principles calculation that further reveals its large magnetic moment. Our systematic Fe deposition and subsequent measurements show that the arclike QPI pattern at the Fermi energy is robust with up to 3% Fe coverage where the atomic nature of Fe adatoms still holds. Our results provide evidence that the topological surface state at the Fermi energy in PbTaSe₂ is robust against dilute magnetic impurities.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

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

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1825495

Journal Information:: Physical Review B, Journal Name: Physical Review B Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 104; ISSN 2469-9950

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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