Unexpected superconductivity at nanoscale junctions made on the topological crystalline insulator Pb0.6Sn0.4Te

Das, Shekhar ; Aggarwal, Leena ; Roychowdhury, Subhajit ; Aslam, Mohammad ; Gayen, Sirshendu ; Biswas, Kanishka ; Sheet, Goutam (2016) Unexpected superconductivity at nanoscale junctions made on the topological crystalline insulator Pb0.6Sn0.4Te Applied Physics Letters, 109 (13). p. 132601. ISSN 0003-6951

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Official URL: http://doi.org/10.1063/1.4963698

Related URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4963698

Abstract

Discovery of exotic phases of matter from the topologically non-trivial systems not only makes the research on topological materials more interesting but also enriches our understanding of the fascinating physics of such materials. Pb0.6Sn0.4Te was recently shown to be a topological crystalline insulator. Here, we show that by forming a mesoscopic point-contact using a normal non-superconducting elemental metal on the surface of Pb0.6Sn0.4Te, a superconducting phase is created locally in a confined region under the point-contact. This happens when the bulk of the sample remains to be non-superconducting, and the superconducting phase emerges as a nano-droplet under the point-contact. The superconducting phase shows a high transition temperature Tc that varies for different point-contacts and falls in a range between 3.7 K and 6.5 K. Therefore, this Letter presents the discovery of a superconducting phase on the surface of a topological crystalline insulator, and the discovery is expected to shed light on the mechanism of induced superconductivity in topologically non-trivial systems in general.

Item Type:Article
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ID Code:128193
Deposited On:03 Nov 2022 05:51
Last Modified:03 Nov 2022 05:51

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