Topological Phase Transition Under Pressure in the Topological Nodal Line Superconductor PbTaSe${}_2$

Abstract

A first-order-like resistivity hysteresis is induced by a subtle structural transition under hydrostatic pressure in the topological nodal-line superconductor PbTaSe${}_2$. This structure transition is quickly suppressed to zero at pressure $\sim$0.25 GPa. As a result, superconductivity shows a marked suppression, accompanied with fundamental changes in the magnetoresistance and Hall resistivity, suggesting a Lifshitz transition around $\sim$0.25 GPa. The first principles calculations show that the spin-orbit interactions partially gap out the Dirac nodal line around $K$ point in the Brillouin zone upon applying a small pressure, whilst the Dirac states around $H$ point are completely destroyed. The calculations further reveal a second structural phase transition under a pressure as high as $\sim$30 GPa, through which a transition from a topologically nontrivial phase to a trivial phase is uncovered, with a superconducting dome emerging under this high-pressure phase.

6 pages; 6 figures

References in corpus (5)

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• Line of Dirac Nodes in Hyper-Honeycomb Lattices
• Lifshitz transition mediated electronic transport anomaly in bulk ZrTe5
• Bulk crystal growth and electronic characterization of the 3D Dirac Semimetal Na3Bi
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Cited by in corpus (6)

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• Fully gapped superconductivity without sign reversal in the topological superconductor PbTaSe${}_2$
• Effects of disorder on the quantum transport properties in topologically nontrivial metal PbTaSe${}_2$
• Evidence of s-wave superconductivity in the noncentrosymmetric La${}_7$Ir${}_3$