Nearly isotropic superconductivity in layered Weyl semimetal WTe${}_2$ at 98.5 kbar

Abstract

Layered transition metal dichalcogenide WTe${}_2$ has recently attracted significant attention due to the discovery of an extremely large magnetoresistance, a predicted type-II Weyl semimetallic state, and the pressure-induced superconducting state. By a careful measurement of the superconducting upper critical fields as a function of the magnetic field angle at a pressure as high as 98.5 kbar, we provide the first detailed examination of the dimensionality of the superconducting condensate in WTe${}_2$. Despite the layered crystal structure, the upper critical field exhibits a negligible field anisotropy. The angular dependence of the upper critical field can be satisfactorily described by the anisotropic mass model from 2.2 K ($T/T_c\sim 0.67$) to 0.03 K ($T/T_c\sim 0.01$), with a practically identical anisotropy factor $\gamma \sim 1.7$. The temperature dependence of the upper critical field, determined for both $H\perp ab$ and $H\parallel ab$, can be understood by a conventional orbital depairing mechanism. Comparison of the upper critical fields along the two orthogonal field directions results in the same value of $\gamma \sim 1.7$, leading to a temperature independent anisotropy factor from near $T_c$ to $<0.01T_c$. Our findings thus identify WTe${}_2$ as a nearly isotropic superconductor, with an anisotropy factor among one of the lowest known in superconducting transition metal dichalcogenides.

6 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B (Rapid Comm.)

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Cited by in corpus (2)

• Angular dependence of the upper critical field in the high-pressure $1T^{\prime }$ phase of MoTe${}_2$
• Optical conductivity of the type-II Weyl semimetal WTe${}_2$ under pressure