No Arabic abstract
Recently superconductivity was discovered in the Kagome metal AV3Sb5 (A = K, Rb, and Cs), which has an ideal Kagome lattice of vanadium. These V-based superconductors also host charge density wave (CDW) and topological nontrivial band structure. Here we report the ultralow-temperature thermal conductivity and high pressure resistance measurements on CsV3Sb5 with Tc = 2.5 K, the highest among AV3Sb5. A finite residual linear term of thermal conductivity at zero magnetic field and its rapid increase in fields suggest nodal superconductivity. By applying pressure, the Tc of CsV3Sb5 increases first, then decreases to lower than 0.3 K at 11.4 GPa, showing a clear first superconducting dome peaked around 0.8 GPa. Above 11.4 GPa, superconductivity re-emerges, suggesting a second superconducting dome. Both nodal superconductivity and superconducting domes point to unconventional superconductivity in this V-based superconductor. While our finding of nodal superconductivity puts a strong constrain on the pairing state of the first dome, which should be related to the CDW instability, the superconductivity of the second dome may present another exotic pairing state in this ideal Kagome lattice of vanadium.
Recently superconductivity and topological charge-density wave (CDW) were discovered in the Kagome metals $A$V$_3$Sb$_5$ ($A$ = Cs, Rb, and K), which have an ideal Kagome lattice of vanadium. Here we report resistance measurements on thin flakes of CsV$_3$Sb$_5$ to investigate the evolution of superconductivity and CDW with sample thickness. The CDW transition temperature ${it T}_{rm CDW}$ decreases from 94 K in bulk to a minimum of 82 K at thickness of 60 nm, then increases to 120 K as the thickness is reduced further to 4.8 nm (about five monolayers). Since the CDW order in CsV$_3$Sb$_5$ is quite three-dimensional (3D) in the bulk sample, the non-monotonic evolution of ${it T}_{rm CDW}$ with reducing sample thickness can be explained by a 3D to 2D crossover around 60 nm. Strikingly, the superconducting transition temperature ${it T}_{rm c}$ shows an exactly opposite evolution, increasing from 3.64 K in the bulk to a maximum of 4.28 K at thickness of 60 nm, then decreasing to 0.76 K at 4.8 nm. Such exactly opposite evolutions provide strong evidence for competing superconductivity and CDW, which helps us to understand these exotic phases in $A$V$_3$Sb$_5$ Kagome metals.
Understanding the competition between superconductivity and other ordered states (such as antiferromagnetic or charge-density-wave (CDW) state) is a central issue in condensed matter physics. The recently discovered layered kagome metal AV3Sb5 (A = K, Rb, and Cs) provides us a new playground to study the interplay of superconductivity and CDW state by involving nontrivial topology of band structures. Here, we conduct high-pressure electrical transport and magnetic susceptibility measurements to study CsV3Sb5 with the highest Tc of 2.7 K in AV3Sb5 family. While the CDW transition is monotonically suppressed by pressure, superconductivity is enhanced with increasing pressure up to P1~0.7 GPa, then an unexpected suppression on superconductivity happens until pressure around 1.1 GPa, after that, Tc is enhanced with increasing pressure again. The CDW is completely suppressed at a critical pressure P2~2 GPa together with a maximum Tc of about 8 K. In contrast to a common dome-like behavior, the pressure-dependent Tc shows an unexpected double-peak behavior. The unusual suppression of Tc at P1 is concomitant with the rapidly damping of quantum oscillations, sudden enhancement of the residual resistivity and rapid decrease of magnetoresistance. Our discoveries indicate an unusual competition between superconductivity and CDW state in pressurized kagome lattice.
Quasi-two-dimensional kagome metals AV3Sb5 (A = K, Rb, and Cs) have attracted much recent interest due to exotic quantum phenomena such as unconventional superconductivity, topological charge order and giant anomalous Hall effect. Here we report pressure-induced reemergent superconductivity in CsV3Sb5 by electrical transport measurements under high pressures up to 47.9 GPa. We show that the superconducting critical temperature Tc is first enhanced by pressure and reaches its first maximum ~ 8.9 K at 0.8 GPa, then the Tc is suppressed by pressure and cannot be detected above 7.5 GPa, forming a dome-shaped superconducting phase diagram. Remarkably, upon further compression above 16.5 GPa, a new superconducting state arises, of which Tc is enhanced by pressure to a second maximum ~ 5.0 K and the reemergent superconductivity keeps robust up to 47.9 GPa. Combined with high-pressure synchrotron x-ray diffraction measurements that demonstrate the stability of the pristine hexagonal phase up to 43.1 GPa, we suggest that the reemergence of superconductivity in the V-based superconductor could be attributed to a pressure-induced Lifshitz transition.
Superconductivity in topological kagome metals has recently received great research interests. Here, charge density wave (CDW) orders and the evolution of superconductivity under various pressures in CsV3Sb5 single crystal with V kagome lattice are investigated. By using high-resolution scanning tunnelling microscopy /spectroscopy (STM/STS), two CDW orders in CsV3Sb5 are observed which correspond to 4a*1a and 2a*2a superlattices. By applying pressure, the superconducting transition temperature Tc is significantly enhanced and reaches a maximum value of 8.2 K at around 1 GPa. Accordingly, CDW state is gradually declined as increasing the pressure, which indicates the competing interplay between CDW and superconducting state in this material. The broad superconducting transitions around 0.4 - 0.8 GPa can be related to the strong competition relation among two CDW states and superconductivity. These results demonstrate that CsV3Sb5 is a new platform for exploring the interplay between superconductivity and CDW in topological kagome metals.
Topological nodal-line semimetals (TNLSMs) are materials whose conduction and valence bands cross each other, meeting a topologically-protected closed loop rather than discrete points in the Brillouin zone (BZ). The anticipated properties for TNLSMs include drumhead-like nearly flat surface states, unique Landau energy levels, special collective modes, long-range Coulomb interactions, or the possibility of realizing high-temperature superconductivity. Recently, SrAs3 has been theoretically proposed and then experimentally confirmed to be a TNLSM. Here, we report high-pressure experiments on SrAs3, identifying a Lifshitz transition below 1 GPa and a superconducting transition accompanied by a structural phase transition above 20 GPa. A topological crystalline insulator (TCI) state is revealed by means of density functional theory (DFT) calculations on the emergent high-pressure phase. As the counterpart of topological insulators, TCIs possess metallic boundary states protected by crystal symmetry, rather than time reversal. In consideration of topological surface states (TSSs) and helical spin texture observed in the high-pressure state of SrAs3, the superconducting state may be induced in the surface states, and is most likely topologically nontrivial, making pressurized SrAs3 a strong candidate for topological superconductor.