Superconductivity and a van Hove singularity confined to the surface of a topological semimetal

Hossain, Md Shafayat; Islam, Rajibul; Cheng, Zi-Jia; Muhammad, Zahir; Zhang, Qi; Guguchia, Zurab; Krieger, Jonas A.; Casas, Brian; Jiang, Yu-Xiao; Litskevich, Maksim; Yang, Xian P.; Kim, Byunghoon; Cochran, Tyler A.; Perakis, Ilias E.; Hicken, Thomas; Luetkens, Hubertus; Xue, Fei; Kargarian, Mehdi; Zhao, Weisheng; Balicas, Luis; Hasan, M. Zahid

doi:10.1038/s41467-025-58024-w

Superconductivity and a van Hove singularity confined to the surface of a topological semimetal

Journal Article · Tue Apr 29 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · Nature Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58024-w· OSTI ID:2574356

^[1]; Islam, Rajibul ^[2]; Cheng, Zi-Jia ^[1]; ^[3]; Zhang, Qi ^[1]; ^[4]; ^[5]; Casas, Brian ^[6]; ^[1]; ^[1]; ^[1]; ^[1]; ^[1]; ^[2]; ^[5]; ^[5]; ^[2]; ^[7]; ^[8]; ^[9] more »

Princeton University, NJ (United States)
University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL (United States)
Beihang University, Hefei (China)
Beihang University, Hangzhou (China); Villigen PSI (Switzerland)
Villigen PSI (Switzerland)
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Tallahassee, FL (United States)
Sharif University of Technology, Tehran (Iran)
Beihang University, Hangzhou (China)
Villigen PSI (Switzerland); Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL (United States)

The interplay between topology and superconductivity generated great interest in condensed matter physics. Here, we unveil an unconventional two-dimensional superconducting state in the Dirac nodal line semimetal ZrAs₂ which is exclusively confined to the top and bottom surfaces within the crystal's ab plane. As a remarkable consequence, we present the first clear evidence of a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition occurring solely on a material's surface-specifically, ZrAs₂-unlike the inconsistent reports on PtBi₂, CaAgP, and CaAg_1-xPd_xP. Furthermore, we find that these same surfaces also host a two-dimensional van Hove singularity near the Fermi energy. This leads to enhanced electronic correlations that contribute to the stabilization of superconductivity at the surface of ZrAs₂. The'surface-confined nature of the van Hove singularity and associated superconductivity, realized for the first time, allows exploring the interplay between low-dimensional quantum topology and superconductivity in a bulk material without resorting to the superconducting proximity effect.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL (United States)

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

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0002613

OSTI ID:: 2574356

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 16; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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