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Title: Surface superconductivity in the type II Weyl semimetal TaIrTe4

Journal Article · · National Science Review
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwz204 · OSTI ID:1651249
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [5];  [5];  [6]; ORCiD logo [7];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [10];  [9]
  1. China Univ. of Petroleum, Beijing (China); Peking Univ., Beijing (China). International Center for Quantum Materials
  2. School of Physics and Information Technology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710119, China
  3. Peking Univ., Beijing (China). International Center for Quantum Materials
  4. Huazhong Univ. of Science and Technology, Wuhan (China); Huazhong Univ. of Science and Technology, Wuhan (China). Wuhan National High Magnetic Field Center
  5. Zhejiang Univ., Hangzhou (China). State Key Lab. of Silicon Materials, Center of Electron Microscopy
  6. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
  7. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  8. Weizmann Inst. of Science, Rehovot (Israel)
  9. 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)
  10. Shaanxi Normal Univ., Xi’an (China); Huazhong Univ. of Science and Technology, Wuhan (China)
+ Show Author Affiliations

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 (Tc) up to 1.54 K being observed. The normalized upper critical field h*(T/Tc) 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.

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 Research and Development Program of China; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725; GBMF4416; DMR-1420451; 2462017YJRC012; 2462018BJC00; Z180010; 11888101; 11774008; 11574095; 11704414; 11574008; 11761161003; 11825401; 11921005; 11974430; 18YFA0305604; 2017YFA0303302; 2016YFA0301604
OSTI ID:
1651249
Journal Information:
National Science Review, Vol. 7, Issue 3; ISSN 2095-5138
Publisher:
China Science PublishingCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
surface superconductivity
Weyl semimetal
topological superconductivity