Observation of topological superconductivity in a stoichiometric transition metal dichalcogenide 2M-WS2
Abstract
Topological superconductors (TSCs) are unconventional superconductors with bulk superconducting gap and in-gap Majorana states on the boundary that may be used as topological qubits for quantum computation. Despite their importance in both fundamental research and applications, natural TSCs are very rare. Here, combining state of the art synchrotron and laser-based angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we investigated a stoichiometric transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD), 2M-WS2 with a superconducting transition temperature of 8.8 K (the highest among all TMDs in the natural form up to date) and observed distinctive topological surface states (TSSs). Furthermore, in the superconducting state, we found that the TSSs acquired a nodeless superconducting gap with similar magnitude as that of the bulk states. These discoveries not only evidence 2M-WS2 as an intrinsic TSC without the need of sensitive composition tuning or sophisticated heterostructures fabrication, but also provide an ideal platform for device applications thanks to its van der Waals layered structure.
- Authors:
-
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- ShanghaiTech Univ. (China); Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom). Dept. of Physics; ShanghaiTech Laboratory for Topological Physics (China)
- ShanghaiTech Univ. (China); ShanghaiTech Laboratory for Topological Physics (China); Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai (China). Shanghai Inst. of Ceramics, State Key Lab. of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure; Peking Univ., Beijing (China). State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Applications, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering
- China Jiliang Univ., Hangzhou (China). School of Physics; Nanjing Univ. (China). National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Physics; Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing (China)
- Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). State Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Quantum Physics, Dept. of Physics
- ShanghaiTech Univ. (China); ShanghaiTech Laboratory for Topological Physics (China); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source (ALS)
- ShanghaiTech Univ. (China); ShanghaiTech Laboratory for Topological Physics (China)
- ShanghaiTech Univ. (China). Center for Transformative Science; ShanghaiTech Univ. (China). Shanghai high repetition rate XFEL and extreme light facility (SHINE)
- Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom). Dept. of Physics
- ShanghaiTech Univ. (China); Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai (China). Shanghai Inst. of Ceramics, State Key Lab. of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure
- SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States). Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL)
- Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste (Italy)
- Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Oxford (United Kingdom). Diamond Light Source, Ltd.
- Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics
- Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Physics
- Nanjing Univ. (China). National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Physics; Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing (China)
- Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). State Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Quantum Physics, Dept. of Physics; Frontier Science Center for Quantum Information, Beijing (China)
- ShanghaiTech Univ. (China); Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom). Dept. of Physics; ShanghaiTech Laboratory for Topological Physics (China); Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). State Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Quantum Physics, Dept. of Physics
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1814157
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1812543
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231; AC02-76SF00515
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Nature Communications
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 12; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
Citation Formats
Li, Y. W., Zheng, H. J., Fang, Y. Q., Zhang, D. Q., Chen, Y. J., Chen, C., Liang, A. J., Shi, W. J., Pei, D., Xu, L. X., Liu, S., Pan, J., Lu, D. H., Hashimoto, M., Barinov, A., Jung, S. W., Cacho, C., Wang, M. X., He, Y., Fu, L., Zhang, H. J., Huang, F. Q., Yang, L. X., Liu, Z. K., and Chen, Y. L. Observation of topological superconductivity in a stoichiometric transition metal dichalcogenide 2M-WS2. United States: N. p., 2021.
Web. doi:10.1038/s41467-021-23076-1.
Li, Y. W., Zheng, H. J., Fang, Y. Q., Zhang, D. Q., Chen, Y. J., Chen, C., Liang, A. J., Shi, W. J., Pei, D., Xu, L. X., Liu, S., Pan, J., Lu, D. H., Hashimoto, M., Barinov, A., Jung, S. W., Cacho, C., Wang, M. X., He, Y., Fu, L., Zhang, H. J., Huang, F. Q., Yang, L. X., Liu, Z. K., & Chen, Y. L. Observation of topological superconductivity in a stoichiometric transition metal dichalcogenide 2M-WS2. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23076-1
Li, Y. W., Zheng, H. J., Fang, Y. Q., Zhang, D. Q., Chen, Y. J., Chen, C., Liang, A. J., Shi, W. J., Pei, D., Xu, L. X., Liu, S., Pan, J., Lu, D. H., Hashimoto, M., Barinov, A., Jung, S. W., Cacho, C., Wang, M. X., He, Y., Fu, L., Zhang, H. J., Huang, F. Q., Yang, L. X., Liu, Z. K., and Chen, Y. L. Mon .
"Observation of topological superconductivity in a stoichiometric transition metal dichalcogenide 2M-WS2". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23076-1. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1814157.
@article{osti_1814157,
title = {Observation of topological superconductivity in a stoichiometric transition metal dichalcogenide 2M-WS2},
author = {Li, Y. W. and Zheng, H. J. and Fang, Y. Q. and Zhang, D. Q. and Chen, Y. J. and Chen, C. and Liang, A. J. and Shi, W. J. and Pei, D. and Xu, L. X. and Liu, S. and Pan, J. and Lu, D. H. and Hashimoto, M. and Barinov, A. and Jung, S. W. and Cacho, C. and Wang, M. X. and He, Y. and Fu, L. and Zhang, H. J. and Huang, F. Q. and Yang, L. X. and Liu, Z. K. and Chen, Y. L.},
abstractNote = {Topological superconductors (TSCs) are unconventional superconductors with bulk superconducting gap and in-gap Majorana states on the boundary that may be used as topological qubits for quantum computation. Despite their importance in both fundamental research and applications, natural TSCs are very rare. Here, combining state of the art synchrotron and laser-based angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we investigated a stoichiometric transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD), 2M-WS2 with a superconducting transition temperature of 8.8 K (the highest among all TMDs in the natural form up to date) and observed distinctive topological surface states (TSSs). Furthermore, in the superconducting state, we found that the TSSs acquired a nodeless superconducting gap with similar magnitude as that of the bulk states. These discoveries not only evidence 2M-WS2 as an intrinsic TSC without the need of sensitive composition tuning or sophisticated heterostructures fabrication, but also provide an ideal platform for device applications thanks to its van der Waals layered structure.},
doi = {10.1038/s41467-021-23076-1},
journal = {Nature Communications},
number = 1,
volume = 12,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon May 17 00:00:00 EDT 2021},
month = {Mon May 17 00:00:00 EDT 2021}
}
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