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Title: Magnetic Field Enhanced Superconductivity in Epitaxial Thin Film WTe2

Abstract

In conventional superconductors an external magnetic field generally suppresses superconductivity. This results from a simple thermodynamic competition of the superconducting and magnetic free energies. In this study, we report the unconventional features in the superconducting epitaxial thin film tungsten telluride (WTe2). Measuring the electrical transport properties of Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) grown WTe2 thin films with a high precision rotation stage, we map the upper critical field Hc2 at different temperatures T. We observe the superconducting transition temperature T c is enhanced by in-plane magnetic fields. The upper critical field Hc2 is observed to establish an unconventional non-monotonic dependence on temperature. We suggest that this unconventional feature is due to the lifting of inversion symmetry, which leads to the enhancement of Hc2 in Ising superconductors.

Authors:
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [2]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
  2. McGill Univ., Montreal, QC (Canada)
  3. Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1500044
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0008110
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Scientific Reports
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 8; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY

Citation Formats

Asaba, Tomoya, Wang, Yongjie, Li, Gang, Xiang, Ziji, Tinsman, Colin, Chen, Lu, Zhou, Shangnan, Zhao, Songrui, Laleyan, David, Li, Yi, Mi, Zetian, and Li, Lu. Magnetic Field Enhanced Superconductivity in Epitaxial Thin Film WTe2. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-24736-x.
Asaba, Tomoya, Wang, Yongjie, Li, Gang, Xiang, Ziji, Tinsman, Colin, Chen, Lu, Zhou, Shangnan, Zhao, Songrui, Laleyan, David, Li, Yi, Mi, Zetian, & Li, Lu. Magnetic Field Enhanced Superconductivity in Epitaxial Thin Film WTe2. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-24736-x
Asaba, Tomoya, Wang, Yongjie, Li, Gang, Xiang, Ziji, Tinsman, Colin, Chen, Lu, Zhou, Shangnan, Zhao, Songrui, Laleyan, David, Li, Yi, Mi, Zetian, and Li, Lu. Wed . "Magnetic Field Enhanced Superconductivity in Epitaxial Thin Film WTe2". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-24736-x. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1500044.
@article{osti_1500044,
title = {Magnetic Field Enhanced Superconductivity in Epitaxial Thin Film WTe2},
author = {Asaba, Tomoya and Wang, Yongjie and Li, Gang and Xiang, Ziji and Tinsman, Colin and Chen, Lu and Zhou, Shangnan and Zhao, Songrui and Laleyan, David and Li, Yi and Mi, Zetian and Li, Lu},
abstractNote = {In conventional superconductors an external magnetic field generally suppresses superconductivity. This results from a simple thermodynamic competition of the superconducting and magnetic free energies. In this study, we report the unconventional features in the superconducting epitaxial thin film tungsten telluride (WTe2). Measuring the electrical transport properties of Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) grown WTe2 thin films with a high precision rotation stage, we map the upper critical field Hc2 at different temperatures T. We observe the superconducting transition temperature T c is enhanced by in-plane magnetic fields. The upper critical field Hc2 is observed to establish an unconventional non-monotonic dependence on temperature. We suggest that this unconventional feature is due to the lifting of inversion symmetry, which leads to the enhancement of Hc2 in Ising superconductors.},
doi = {10.1038/s41598-018-24736-x},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
number = 1,
volume = 8,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Apr 25 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Wed Apr 25 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}

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Cited by: 20 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: Field-induced enhancement of Tc at low in-plane field and high temperature. (a,b) The temperature dependence of the 5.5 nm WTe2 Sample 1 (Tc 0.71 K) film sheet resistance, ρ, at fixed fields. The black arrow marks the direction of the increase of in-plane magnetic fields. In Panel a,more » the superconducting transition shifts to higher T as the in-plane field increases to 2 T, whereas at higher field, the transition shifts to lower T. Combining panel a and b shows the transition temperature Tc gets enhanced at the finite in-plane magnetic field. (c) The magnetic field H dependence of 5.5 nm WTe2 film Sample 1. At around Tc, this sample shows strong negative magnetoresistance. (d) Similar negative magnetic field H dependence of R is observed in 5.5 nm WTe2 film Sample 2 (Tc 0.64 K). (e) The temperature dependence of in-plane upper critical field for 5.5 nm WTe2 thin film around T = Tc. Field-induced enhancement of Tc shows a maximum of 0.8% in sample 1 (Hp = 1.31 T) and 1.6% in sample 2 (Hp = 1.21 T).« less

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Figures/Tables have been extracted from DOE-funded journal article accepted manuscripts.