Superconductivity enhancement in polar metal regions of Sr${}_{0.95}$Ba${}_{0.05}$TiO${}_3$ and Sr${}_{0.985}$Ca${}_{0.015}$TiO${}_3$ revealed by the systematic Nb doping

Abstract

Two different ferroelectric materials, Sr${}_{0.95}$Ba${}_{0.05}$TiO${}_3$ and Sr${}_{0.985}$Ca${}_{0.015}$TiO${}_3$, can be turned into polar metals with broken centrosymmetry via electron doping. Systematic substitution of Nb${}^{5+}$ for Ti${}^{4+}$ has revealed that these polar metals both commonly show a simple superconducting dome with a single convex shape. Interestingly, the superconducting transition temperature $T_{\mathrm{c}}$ is enhanced more strongly in these polar metals when compared with the nonpolar matrix Sr(Ti,Nb)O${}_3$. The maximum $T_{\mathrm{c}}$ reaches 0.75K, which is the highest reported value among the SrTiO${}_3$-based families to date. However, the $T_{\mathrm{c}}$ enhancement is unexpectedly lower within the vicinity of the putative ferroelectric quantum critical point. The enhancement then becomes much more prominent at locations further inside the dilute carrier-density region, where the screening is less effective. These results suggest that centrosymmetry breaking, i.e., the ferroelectric nature, does not kill the superconductivity. Instead, it enhances the superconductivity directly, despite the absence of strong quantum fluctuations.

References in corpus (9)

• Strain gradient induced polarization in SrTiO3 single crystals
• Two-dimensional superconductivity at the surfaces of KTaO3 gated with ionic liquid
• Ferroelectric Instability under Screened Coulomb Interactions
• Interplay between antiferrodistortive, ferroelectric and superconducting instabilities in Sr_{1-x}Ca_{x}$TiO_{3-δ}
• Isotope tuning of the superconducting dome of strontium titanate
• Multiple nodeless superconducting gaps in optimally-doped SrTi${}_{1-x}$Nb${}_x$O${}_3$
• Superconductivity from energy fluctuations in dilute quantum critical polar metals
• Filamentary superconductivity of resistively-switched strontium titanate
• A large modulation of electron-phonon coupling and an emergent superconducting dome in doped strong ferroelectrics

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Generalized Rashba Electron-Phonon Coupling and Superconductivity in Strontium Titanate
• Majorana-Weyl cones in ferroelectric superconductors
• Quantum fluctuation of ferroelectric order in polar metals
• Universally enhanced superconductivity and coexisting ferroelectricity at oxide interfaces
• Electronic spin susceptibility in metallic strontium titanate
• Effects of Homogeneous Doping on Electron-Phonon Coupling in SrTiO3
• Clues to potential dipolar-Kondo and RKKY interactions in a polar metal
• Spin-dependent anisotropic electron-phonon coupling in KTaO${}_3$
• Phonon-mediated spin transport in quantum paraelectric metals