Superconductivity Induced at a Point Contact on the Topological Semimetal Tungsten Carbide

Abstract

We report the observation of local superconductivity induced at the point contact formed between a normal metal tip and WC -- a triple point topological semimetal with super hardness. Remarkably, the maximum critical temperature is up to near 12 K but insensitive to the tip's magnetism. The lateral dimensions of the superconducting puddles were evaluated and the temperature dependencies of superconducting gap and upper critical field were also obtained. These results put constraints on the explanation of the induced superconductivity and pave a pathway for exploring topological superconductivity.

arXiv comment7 pages, 6 figures

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Cited by in corpus (8)

• The soft-mode phonons mediated unconventional superconductivity in monolayer 1T'-WTe2
• Evidence of Interfacial Topological Superconductivity on the Topological Semimetal Tungsten Carbide Induced by Metal Deposition
• Electron-phonon interaction and point contact enhanced superconductivity in trigonal PtBi2
• Electronic structure of the surface superconducting Weyl semimetal PtBi${}_2$
• Strong electron-phonon coupling in 3D tungsten nitride and coexistence of intrinsic superconductivity and topological nodal line in its 2D limit
• Temperature driven spin-zero effect in TaAs${}_2$
• Formation of tungsten carbide by focused ion beam process: A route to high magnetic field resilient patterned superconducting nanostructures
• Reflectance spectral studies of spark plasma sintered tungsten carbide pellet