Coulomb blockade effects in a topological insulator grown on a high-Tc cuprate superconductor
Abstract
The evidence for proximity-induced superconductivity in heterostructures of topological insulators and high-Tc cuprates has been intensely debated. We use molecular-beam epitaxy to grow thin films of topological insulator Bi2Te3 on a cuprate Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x, and study the surface of Bi2Te3 using low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. In few unit-cell thick Bi2Te3 films, we find a V-shaped gap-like feature at the Fermi energy in dI/dV spectra. By reducing the coverage of Bi2Te3 films to create nanoscale islands, we discover that this spectral feature dramatically evolves into a much larger hard gap, which can be understood as a Coulomb blockade gap. This conclusion is supported by the evolution of dI/dV spectra with the lateral size of Bi2Te3 islands, as well as by topographic measurements that show an additional barrier separating Bi2Te3 and Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x. We conclude that the prominent gap-like feature in dI/dV spectra in Bi2Te3 films is not a proximity-induced superconducting gap. Instead, it can be explained by Coulomb blockade effects, which take into account additional resistive and capacitive coupling at the interface. Our experiments provide a fresh insight into the tunneling measurements of complex heterostructures with buried interfaces.
- Authors:
-
[3];
[4];
[1]
- Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA (United States)
- Univ. of Geneva (Switzerland)
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Aalto Univ. (Finland)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); US Army Research Office (ARO); Academy of Finland
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1706610
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-220590-2020-JAAM
Journal ID: ISSN 2397-4648; TRN: US2204598
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0012704; W911NF-17-1-0399; 308515; 312299
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- npj Quantum Materials
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 5; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2397-4648
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; electronic properties and materials; surfaces, interfaces and thin films
Citation Formats
Rachmilowitz, Bryan, Zhao, He, Ren, Zheng, Li, Hong, Thomas, Konrad H., Marangola, John, Gao, Shang, Schneeloch, John, Zhong, Ruidan, Gu, Genda, Flindt, Christian, and Zeljkovic, Ilija. Coulomb blockade effects in a topological insulator grown on a high-Tc cuprate superconductor. United States: N. p., 2020.
Web. doi:10.1038/s41535-020-00274-6.
Rachmilowitz, Bryan, Zhao, He, Ren, Zheng, Li, Hong, Thomas, Konrad H., Marangola, John, Gao, Shang, Schneeloch, John, Zhong, Ruidan, Gu, Genda, Flindt, Christian, & Zeljkovic, Ilija. Coulomb blockade effects in a topological insulator grown on a high-Tc cuprate superconductor. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-020-00274-6
Rachmilowitz, Bryan, Zhao, He, Ren, Zheng, Li, Hong, Thomas, Konrad H., Marangola, John, Gao, Shang, Schneeloch, John, Zhong, Ruidan, Gu, Genda, Flindt, Christian, and Zeljkovic, Ilija. Wed .
"Coulomb blockade effects in a topological insulator grown on a high-Tc cuprate superconductor". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-020-00274-6. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1706610.
@article{osti_1706610,
title = {Coulomb blockade effects in a topological insulator grown on a high-Tc cuprate superconductor},
author = {Rachmilowitz, Bryan and Zhao, He and Ren, Zheng and Li, Hong and Thomas, Konrad H. and Marangola, John and Gao, Shang and Schneeloch, John and Zhong, Ruidan and Gu, Genda and Flindt, Christian and Zeljkovic, Ilija},
abstractNote = {The evidence for proximity-induced superconductivity in heterostructures of topological insulators and high-Tc cuprates has been intensely debated. We use molecular-beam epitaxy to grow thin films of topological insulator Bi2Te3 on a cuprate Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x, and study the surface of Bi2Te3 using low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. In few unit-cell thick Bi2Te3 films, we find a V-shaped gap-like feature at the Fermi energy in dI/dV spectra. By reducing the coverage of Bi2Te3 films to create nanoscale islands, we discover that this spectral feature dramatically evolves into a much larger hard gap, which can be understood as a Coulomb blockade gap. This conclusion is supported by the evolution of dI/dV spectra with the lateral size of Bi2Te3 islands, as well as by topographic measurements that show an additional barrier separating Bi2Te3 and Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x. We conclude that the prominent gap-like feature in dI/dV spectra in Bi2Te3 films is not a proximity-induced superconducting gap. Instead, it can be explained by Coulomb blockade effects, which take into account additional resistive and capacitive coupling at the interface. Our experiments provide a fresh insight into the tunneling measurements of complex heterostructures with buried interfaces.},
doi = {10.1038/s41535-020-00274-6},
journal = {npj Quantum Materials},
number = 1,
volume = 5,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Oct 14 00:00:00 EDT 2020},
month = {Wed Oct 14 00:00:00 EDT 2020}
}
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