Evidence for interfacial superconductivity in a bi-collinear antiferromagnetically ordered FeTe monolayer on a topological insulator

Abstract

The discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in Fe-based compounds [1,2] has triggered numerous investigations on the interplay between superconductivity and magnetism [3] and, more recently, on the enhancement of transition temperatures through interface effects [4]. It is widely believed that the emergence of optimal superconductivity is intimately linked to the suppression of long-range antiferromagnetic (AFM) order, although the exact microscopic picture of this relationship remains elusive [1] due to the lack of data with atomic spatial resolution [5-7]. Here, we present a spin-polarized scanning tunneling spectroscopy (SP-STS) study of ultrathin FeTe${}_{1-x}$Se${}_x$ (x = 0, 0.5) films grown on prototypical Bi-based bulk topological insulators. Surprisingly, we find an energy gap at the Fermi level indicating superconducting correlations up to Tc ~ 6 K for one unit cell thin FeTe layers grown on Bi2Te3 substrates, in contrast to the non-superconducting FeTe bulk compound [8]. Moreover, SP-STS reveals that the energy gap spatially coexists with bicollinear AFM order. This finding opens novel perspectives for theoretical studies of competing orders in Fe-based superconductors as well as for experimental investigations of exotic phases in heterostructures of topological insulators and superconducting layers.

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• FeTe${}_{1-x}$Se${}_x$ monolayer films: towards the realization of high-temperature connate topological superconductivity
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• All-electrically tunable networks of Majorana bound states
• Pseudodoping of Metallic Two-Dimensional Materials by The Supporting Substrates
• Superconducting proximity effect in a topological insulator using Fe(Te,Se)
• Coexistence of Antiferromagnetism and Superconductivity in Mn/Nb(110)
• Atomic-scale fragmentation and collapse of antiferromagnetic order in a doped Mott insulator
• Hybrid symmetry epitaxy of superconducting Fe(Te,Se) film on a topological insulator
• Spin-polarized imaging of the antiferromagnetic structure and field-tunable bound states in kagome magnet FeSn
• Testing the topological nature of end states in antiferromagnetic atomic chains on superconductors
• Coexistence of Superconductivity and Antiferromagnetism in Topological Magnet MnBi2Te4 Films
• Hinge states in a system of coupled Rashba layers
• Step-edge assisted large scale FeSe monolayer growth on epitaxial Bi2Se3 thin films
• Molecular beam epitaxy of superconducting FeSe${}_x$Te${}_{1-x}$ thin films interfaced with magnetic topological insulators
• Nodal S-wave Superconductivity in Antiferromagnetic Semimetals
• Tuning the Magnetism in Ultrathin CrxTey Films by Lattice Dimensionality
• Giant Grüneisen parameter in a strain-tuned superconducting quantum paraelectric: A consequence of the vanishing ferroelectric phonon energy
• Spin-selective tunneling from nanowires of the candidate topological Kondo insulator SmB6
• Electronic Structure of Fe${}_{1.08}$Te bulk crystals and epitaxial FeTe thin films on Bi${}_2$Te${}_3$
• Evidence for a two-fold symmetric superconducting gap in a monolayer of FeSe${}_{0.5}$Te${}_{0.5}$ on a topological insulator
• Topological signatures of the coexistence of antiferromagnetism and odd-parity spin-triplet superconductivity
• Enhanced spin ordering temperature in ultrathin FeTe films grown on a topological insulator
• Evidence for a robust sign-changing s-wave order parameter in monolayer films of superconducting Fe (Se,Te)/Bi2Te3
• High quality Fe1+yTe synthesized by chemical vapor deposition with conspicuous vortex flow
• Vortex bound states of charge and magnetic fluctuations-induced topological superconductors in heterostructures
• Atomic-scale coexistence of short-range magnetic order and superconductivity in Fe${}_{1+y}$Se${}_{0.1}$Te${}_{0.9}$
• From classical to quantum regime of topological surface states via defect engineering
• Asymmetric $d$-wave superconducting topological insulator in proximity with a magnetic order
• Spin mapping of intralayer antiferromagnetism and spin-flop transition in monolayer CrTe${}_2$
• Meissner Effect and Nonreciprocal Charge Transport in Non-Topological 1T-CrTe2/FeTe Heterostructures
• Disorder-induced time effect in the antiferromagnetic domain state of Fe1+yTe
• Interfacial superconductivity induced by single-quintuple-layer Bi${}_2$Te${}_3$ on top of FeTe forming van-der-Waals heterostructure
• Reversible tuning of magnetic order and intrinsic superconductivity in strained FeTe films via stoichiometry control
• Linear Foundation Model for Quantum Embedding: Data-Driven Compression of the Ghost Gutzwiller Variational Space
• Domain imaging across the magneto-structural phase transition in Fe${}_{1+y}$Te