Surface and bulk superconductivity at ambient pressure in the Weyl semimetal TaP
arXiv:1808.09702
Abstract
The motivation to search for signatures of superconductivity in Weyl semi-metals and other topological phases lies in their potential for hosting exotic phenomena such as nonzero-momentum pairing or the Majorana fermion, a viable candidate for the ultimate realization of a scalable quantum computer. Until now, however, all known reports of superconductivity in Weyl semimetals have arisen through surface contact with a sharp tip, focused ion-beam surface treatment or the application of high pressures. Here, we demonstrate the observation of superconductivity in single crystals, even an as-grown crystal, of the Weyl semi-metal tantalum phosphide (TaP), at ambient pressure. A superconducting transition temperature, , varying between 1.7 and 5.3 K, is observed in different samples, both as-grown and microscopic samples processed with focused ion beam (FIB) etching. Our data show that the superconductivity present in the as-grown crystal is inhomogeneous yet exists in the bulk. For samples fabricated with FIB, we observe, in addition to the bulk superconductivity, a second superconducting state that resides on the sample surface. Through measurements of the characteristic fields as a function of temperature and angle, we are able to confirm the dimensionality of the two distinct superconducting phases.
arXiv comment17 pages, 3 figures
References in corpus (30)
- Theoretical Discovery/Prediction: Weyl Semimetal states in the TaAs material (TaAs, NbAs, NbP, TaP) class
- Observation of the chiral anomaly induced negative magneto-resistance in 3D Weyl semi-metal TaAs
- Extremely large magnetoresistance and ultrahigh mobility in the topological Weyl semimetal NbP
- Discovery of a Weyl Fermion semimetal state in NbAs
- Two Dimensional Ising Superconductivity in Gated MoS
- Experimental observation of topological Fermi arcs in type-II Weyl semimetal MoTe2
- Signatures of the Adler-Bell-Jackiw chiral anomaly in a Weyl Fermion semimetal
- Experimental discovery of a topological Weyl semimetal state in TaP
- Field-induced superconducting phase of FeSe in the BCS-BEC cross-over
- Upper critical fields and thermally-activated transport of Nd(O_0.7F_0.3)FeAs single crystal
- Observation of Weyl nodes and Fermi arcs in TaP
- On the search for the chiral anomaly in Weyl semimetals: The negative longitudinal magnetoresistance
- Fermi surface of the most dilute superconductor
- Pi Berry phase and Zeeman splitting of TaP probed by high field magnetotransport measurements
- Giant superconducting fluctuations in the compensated semimetal FeSe at the BCS-BEC crossover
- Direct Observation of Nonequivalent Fermi-Arc States of Opposite Surfaces in Noncentrosymmetric Weyl Semimetal NbP
- Unsaturated both large positive and negative magnetoresistance in Weyl Semimetal TaP
- Chiral Quasiparticles at the Fermi Surface of the Weyl Semimetal TaAs
- Inducing superconductivity in Weyl semi-metal microstructures by selective ion sputtering
- Negative Magnetoresistance in Weyl semimetals NbAs and NbP: Intrinsic Chiral Anomaly and Extrinsic Effects
- Crossed surface flat bands of Weyl semimetal superconductors
- Observation of Fermi Arcs in non-Centrosymmetric Weyl Semi-metal Candidate NbP
- Mesoscopic superconductivity and high spin polarization coexisting at metallic point contacts on the Weyl semimetal TaAs
- Superconductivity Induced by High Pressure in Weyl Semimetal TaP
- Proximity induced superconductivity in Weyl semi-metals
- Superconducting proximity effect and Majorana flat bands in the surface of a Weyl semimetal
- Non-stoichiometry and Defects in the Weyl Semimetals TaAs, TaP, NbP, and NbAs
- Coexistence of Weyl Physics and Planar Defects in Semimetals TaP and TaAs
- Pressure-induced Superconductivity in the Three-component Fermion Topological Semimetal Molybdenum Phosphide
- BCS-like critical fluctuations with limited overlap of Cooper pairs in FeSe