Evidence for s-wave Pairing with Atomic Scale Disorder in the van der Waals Superconductor NaSn2As2

Abstract

The recent discovery of superconductivity in NaSn${}_2$As${}_2$ with a van der Waals layered structure raises immediate questions on its pairing mechanism and underlying electronic structure. Here, we present measurements of the temperature-dependent magnetic penetration depth $\lambda (T)$ in single crystals of NaSn${}_2$As${}_2$ down to $\sim 40$ mK. We find a very long penetration depth $\lambda (0)=960$ nm, which is strongly enhanced from the estimate of first-principles calculations. This enhancement comes from a short mean free path $\ell \approx 1.7$ nm, indicating atomic scale disorder possibly associated with the valence-skipping states of Sn. The temperature dependence of superfluid density is fully consistent with the conventional fully gapped s-wave state in the dirty limit. These results suggest that NaSn${}_2$As${}_2$ is an ideal material to study quantum phase fluctuations in strongly disordered superconductors with its controllable dimensionality.

6 pages, 4 figures. Accepted as a Rapid Communication in Physical Review B