Fully-gapped superconductivity and topological aspects of the noncentrosymmetric TaReSi superconductor

Abstract

We report a study of the noncentrosymmetric TaReSi superconductor by means of muon-spin rotation and relaxation ($\hat{I}¼$SR) technique, complemented by electronic band-structure calculations. Its superconductivity, with $T_c$ = 5.5 K and upper critical field $\hat{I}{¼}_0{H}_{c2}(0)$ $\sim$ 3.4 T, was characterized via electrical-resistivity- and magnetic-susceptibility measurements. The temperature-dependent superfluid density, obtained from transverse-field $\hat{I}¼$SR, suggests a fully-gapped superconducting state in TaReSi, with an energy gap $\hat{I}{”}_0$ = 0.79 meV and a magnetic penetration depth $\hat{I}{»}_0$ = 562 nm. The absence of a spontaneous magnetization below $T_c$, as confirmed by zero-field $\hat{I}¼$SR, indicates a preserved time-reversal symmetry in the superconducting state. The density of states near the Fermi level is dominated by the Ta- and Re-5$d$ orbitals, which account for the relatively large band splitting due to the antisymmetric spin-orbit coupling. In its normal state, TaReSi behaves as a three-dimensional Kramers nodal-line semimetal, characterized by an hourglass-shaped dispersion protected by glide reflection. By combining non\-triv\-i\-al electronic bands with intrinsic superconductivity, TaReSi is a promising material for investigating the topological aspects of noncentrosymmetric superconductors.

9 pages, 9 figures; accepted by Phys. Rev. B