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Title: Observation of topological superconductivity on the surface of an iron-based superconductor

Journal Article · · Science
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Univ. of Tokyo (Japan). Inst. for Solid State Physics
  2. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States). Dept. of Physics
  3. Nanjing Univ. (China). National Lab. of Solid State Microstructures and Dept. of Physics
  4. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Dept.
  5. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Inst. of Physics. Beijing National Lab. for Condensed Matter Physics (BNLCP-CAS); Univ. of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). CAS Center for Excellence in Topological Quantum Computation

Topological superconductors are predicted to host exotic Majorana states that obey non-Abelian statistics and can be used to implement a topological quantum computer. Most of the proposed topological superconductors are realized in difficult-to-fabricate heterostructures at very low temperatures. By using high-resolution spin-resolved and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, we find that the iron-based superconductor FeTe1–xSex (x = 0.45; superconducting transition temperature Tc = 14.5 kelvin) hosts Dirac-cone–type spin-helical surface states at the Fermi level; the surface states exhibit an s-wave superconducting gap below Tc. Thus, our study shows that the surface states of FeTe0.55Se0.45 are topologically superconducting, providing a simple and possibly high-temperature platform for realizing Majorana states.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT); Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST); Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012704
OSTI ID:
1440897
Report Number(s):
BNL--205750-2018-JAAM
Journal Information:
Science, Journal Name: Science Journal Issue: 6385 Vol. 360; ISSN 0036-8075
Publisher:
AAASCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Robust and Clean Majorana Zero Mode in the Vortex Core of High-Temperature Superconductor ( Li 0.84 Fe 0.16 ) OHFeSe journal December 2018
Quantum Anomalous Vortex and Majorana Zero Mode in Iron-Based Superconductor Fe(Te,Se) journal February 2019
Evidence for Majorana bound states in an iron-based superconductor journal August 2018
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Weak-Pairing Higher Order Topological Superconductors text January 2018
High-Temperature Majorana Corner States text January 2018
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Topological quantum states of matter in iron-based superconductors: From concepts to material realization text January 2018
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A general route to form topologically-protected surface and bulk Dirac fermions along high-symmetry lines text January 2019
Higher Order Topology and Nodal Topological Superconductivity in Fe(Se,Te) Heterostructures text January 2019
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