Unveiling the electronic structure of the predicted topological superconductor PbTaS2

Abstract

PbTaS2 is a metal intercalated, layered transition metal dichalcogenide compound which has recently been predicted to be a potential topological superconductor (TSC), with a superconducting transition temperature of 2.6 K. Besides the strong interest in this class of materials, because of their high potential in quantum-computing applications, many aspects of their phenomenology are still undisclosed. Combining angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements and density functional theory calculations, we have studied the electronic properties of the centrosymmetric type-II superconductor PbTaS2 single crystals in the metallic phase, showing the presence of surface states, originated from the Pb-terminated surface, and of topological nodal lines, formed by the crossing of Ta dxy/dx2−y2 and Pb px/py orbitals. The evidence of surface states connecting the nodal lines, as already discovered on structurally similar materials to be typical features of nodal-line semimetal-like TSCs, makes PbTaS2 a good candidate for exploring topological superconductivity.

Source-reported materials — not catalogue approval

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