2018/05/31 by Ying Xing, Zhibin Shao, Jun Ge +13 · 1 citation
Materials Science · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Band gap #Condensed matter physics #Geology #Geometry #Iron-based superconductors research #Materials science #Mathematics #Paleontology #Physics #Rare-earth and actinide compounds #Semimetal #Superconductivity #Surface (topology) #Topological Materials and Phenomena #Type (biology) #Weyl semimetal #cond-mat.supr-con
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/nsr/nwz204
published as National Science Review 7, 579-587 (2020)
openalex publication_date 2019/12/13 · arxiv created 2020/08/10 · arxiv updated 2020/08/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Abstract The search for unconventional superconductivity in Weyl semimetal materials is currently an exciting pursuit, since such superconducting phases could potentially be topologically non-trivial and host exotic Majorana modes. The layered material TaIrTe4 is a newly predicted time-reversal invariant type II Weyl semimetal with the minimum number of Weyl points. Here, we report the discovery of surface superconductivity in Weyl semimetal TaIrTe4. Our scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS) visualizes Fermi arc surface states of TaIrTe4 that are consistent with the previous angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy results. By a systematic study based on STS at ultralow temperature, we observe uniform superconducting gaps on the sample surface. The superconductivity is further confirmed by electrical transport measurements at ultralow temperature, with an onset transition temperature (Tc) up to 1.54 K being observed. The normalized upper critical field h*(T/Tc) behavior and the stability of the superconductivity against the ferromagnet indicate that the discovered superconductivity is unconventional with the p-wave pairing. The systematic STS, and thickness- and angular-dependent transport measurements reveal that the detected superconductivity is quasi-1D and occurs in the surface states. The discovery of the surface superconductivity in TaIrTe4 provides a new novel platform to explore topological superconductivity and Majorana modes.