No Arabic abstract
Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) usually exhibit layered polytypic structures due to the weak interlayer coupling. 2H-NbSe2 is one of the most widely studied in the pristine TMDC family due to its high superconducting transition temperature (Tc = 7.3K) and the occurrence of a charge-density wave (CDW) order below 33 K. The coexistence of CDW with superconductivity poses an intriguing open question about the relationship between Fermi surface nesting and Cooper pairing. Past studies of this issue have mostly been focused on doping 2H-NbSe2 by 3d transition metals without significantly changing its crystal structure. Here we replaced the Se by Te in 2H-NbSe2 in order to design a new 1T polytype layered TMDC NbSeTe, which adopts a trigonal structure with space group P-3m1. We successfully grew large size and high-quality single crystals of 1T-NbSeTe via the vapor transport method using I2 as the transport agent. Temperature-dependent resistivity and specific heat data revealed a bulk Tc at 1.3 K, which is the first observation of superconductivity in pure 1T-NbSeTe phase. This compound enlarged the family of superconducting TMDCs and provides an opportunity to study the interplay between CDW and superconductivity in the trigonal structure.
We investigate proximity-induced superconductivity in monolayers of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) in the presence of an externally generated exchange field. A variety of superconducting order parameters is found to emerge from the interplay of magnetism and superconductivity, covering the entire spectrum of possibilities to be symmetric or antisymmetric with respect to the valley and spin degrees of freedom, as well as even or odd in frequency. More specifically, when a conventional emph{s}-wave superconductor with singlet Copper pairs is tunnel-coupled to the TMD layer, both spin-singlet and triplet pairings between electrons from the same and opposite valleys arise due to the combined effects of intrinsic spin-orbit coupling and a magnetic-substrate-induced exchange field. As a key finding, we reveal the existence of an exotic even-frequency triplet pairing between equal-spin electrons from different valleys, which arises whenever the spin orientations in the two valleys are noncollinear. All types of superconducting order turn out to be highly tunable via straightforward manipulation of the external exchange field.
Pair density wave (PDW) states are defined by a spatially modulating superconductive order-parameter. To search for such states in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD) we use high-speed atomic-resolution scanned Josephson-tunneling microscopy (SJTM). We detect a PDW state whose electron-pair density and energy-gap modulate spatially at the wavevectors of the preexisting charge density wave (CDW) state. The PDW couples linearly to both the s-wave superconductor and to the CDW, and exhibits commensurate domains with discommensuration phase-slips at the boundaries, conforming to those of the lattice-locked commensurate CDW. Nevertheless, we find a global $deltaPhi sim pm2pi/3$ phase difference between the PDW and CDW states, possibly owing to the Cooper-pair wavefunction orbital content. Our findings presage pervasive PDW physics in the many other TMDs that sustain both CDW and superconducting states.
We present a theoretical framework for understanding the behavior of the normal and superconducting states of overdoped cuprate high temperature superconductors in the vicinity of the doping-tuned quantum superconductor-to-metal transition. The key ingredients on which we focus are d-wave pairing, a flat antinodal dispersion, and disorder. Even for homogeneous disorder, these lead to effectively granular superconducting correlations and a superconducting transition temperature determined in large part by the superfluid stiffness rather than the pairing scale.
Polycrystalline sample of the new layered superconductor Bi4O4S3 is successfully synthesized by solid-state reaction method by using Bi, S and Bi2O3 powders with one step reaction. The superconducting transition temperature (Tconset=4.5 K), the zero resistance transition temperature (Tc0=4.07 K) and the diamagnetic transition temperature (4.02 K at H=10 Oe) were confirmed by electrical transport and magnetic measurements. Also, our results indicate a typical type II-superconductor behavior. In addition, a large thermoelectric effect was observed with a dimensionless thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) of about 0.03 at 300K, indicating Bi4O4S3 can be a potential thermoelectric material.
The metallic ground state in two-dimensional (2D) superconductors has attracted much attention but is still under intense scrutiny. Especially, the measurements in ultralow temperature region are challenging for 2D superconductors due to the sensitivity to external perturbations. In this work, the resistance saturation induced by external noise, named as extrinsic anomalous metallic state, is observed in 2D transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) superconductor 4Ha-TaSe2 nanodevices. However, with further decreasing temperature, credible evidence of intrinsic anomalous metallic state is obtained by adequately filtering external radiation. Our work indicates that at ultralow temperatures the anomalous metallic state can be experimentally revealed as the quantum ground state in 2D crystalline TMD superconductors. Besides, Ising superconductivity revealed by ultrahigh in-plane critical field (Bc2//) going beyond the Pauli paramagnetic limit (Bp) is detected in 4Ha-TaSe2, from one-unit-cell device to bulk situation, which might be due to the weak coupling between the TaSe2 sub-monolayers.