Z${}_2$ topology and superconductivity from symmetry lowering of a 3D Dirac Metal Au${}_2$Pb

Abstract

3D Dirac semi-metals (DSMs) are materials that have massless Dirac electrons and exhibit exotic physical properties It has been suggested that structurally distorting a DSM can create a Topological Insulator (TI), but this has not yet been experimentally verified. Furthermore, quasiparticle excitations known as Majorana Fermions have been theoretically proposed to exist in materials that exhibit superconductivity and topological surface states. Here we show that the cubic Laves phase Au${}_2$Pb has a bulk Dirac cone above 100 K that gaps out upon cooling at a structural phase transition to create a topologically non trivial phase that superconducts below 1.2 K. The nontrivial Z${}_2$ = -1 invariant in the low temperature phase indicates that Au${}_2$Pb in its superconducting state must have topological surface states. These characteristics make Au${}_2$Pb a unique platform for studying the transition between bulk Dirac electrons and topological surface states as well as studying the interaction of superconductivity with topological surface states.

References in corpus (7)

• Superconducting proximity effect and Majorana fermions at the surface of a topological insulator
• Topological Insulators with Inversion Symmetry
• Introduction to topological superconductivity and Majorana fermions
• Surface States of the Topological Insulator Bi_{1-x}Sb_x
• 3D Dirac semimetals: current materials, design principles and predictions of new materials
• Weak Antilocalization Effect and Noncentrosymmetric Superconductivity in a Topologically Nontrivial Semimetal LuPdBi
• Superconducting properties of the In substituted Topological Crystalline Insulator, SnTe

Cited by in corpus (33)

• CsV${}_3$Sb${}_5$: a ${\mathbb{Z}}_2$ topological kagome metal with a superconducting ground state
• Chemical Principles of Topological Semimetals
• Topological superconductivity in Dirac semimetals
• Highly-robust reentrant superconductivity in CsV3Sb5 under pressure
• A comprehensive review on topological superconducting materials and interfaces
• Superconductivity in doped Dirac semimetals
• Nernst effect in Dirac and inversion-asymmetric Weyl semimetals
• Superconductivity in topologically nontrivial material Au2Pb
• Topological phases in the TaSe3 compound
• Electronic Cooling in Weyl and Dirac Semimetals
• Topological Electronic States in HfRuP Family Superconductors
• Euler Obstructed Cooper Pairing: Nodal Superconductivity and Hinge Majorana Zero Modes
• Nodal higher-order topological superconductivity from a ${\mathcal{C}}_4$-symmetric Dirac semimetal
• Possible Experimental Realization of a Basic Z2 Topological Semimetal
• Prediction of superconductivity and topological aspects in single-layer $\beta$-Bi${}_2$Pd
• Topologically nontrivial phases in superconducting transition metal carbides
• Temperature - Pressure phase diagram of the cubic Laves phase Au${}_2$Pb
• Superconductivity in PtPb${}_4$ with Possible Nontrivial Band Topology
• Electronic structure of topological superconductor candidate Au${}_2$Pb
• Ir d-band Derived Superconductivity in the Lanthanum-Iridium System LaIr3
• Superconducting density of states and bandstructure at the surface of the candidate topological superconductor Au2Pb
• An investigation of type-I superconductivity in single crystal of Pb2Pd
• Electronic band structures of topological kagome materials
• Investigation of structural and magneto-transport properties of PdTe2 single crystals
• Superconducting phase diagram and nontrivial band topology of structurally modulated Sn${}_{1-x}$Sb${}_x$
• Unconventional Majorana fermions on the surface of topological superconductors protected by rotational symmetry
• Free-carrier dynamics in Au${}_2$Pb probed by optical conductivity measurements
• Surface states in Dirac metals and topological crystalline insulators
• Fully gapped superconducting state in Au2Pb: a natural candidate for topological superconductor
• Emergence of Topological Superconductivity in Doped Topological Dirac Semimetals under Symmetry-Lowering Lattice Distortions
• Fidelity and variability in the interlayer electronic structure of the kagome superconductor CsV3Sb5
• Unconventional superconductivity in Sc${}_2$Ir${}_{4-x}$Si${}_x$ by spin-orbit coupling driven flat band
• Superconducting topological Dirac semimetals: $P6/m$-Si${}_6$ and $P6/m$-NaSi${}_6$