Superconductor derived from a topological insulator heterostructure

Satoshi Sasaki; Kouji Segawa; Yoichi Ando

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.90.220504

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Superconductor derived from a topological insulator heterostructure

Satoshi Sasaki, Kouji Segawa, Yoichi Ando

DOI 10.1103/PhysRevB.90.220504 · Physical Review B

T1

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Abstract

Topological superconductors (TSCs) are of significant current interest because they offer promising platforms for finding Majorana fermions. Here we report on a superconductor synthesized by intercalating Cu into a naturally formed topological insulator (TI) heterostructure consisting of Bi2Se3 TI units separated by nontopological PbSe units. Interestingly, in this TI-based superconductor, the specific-heat behavior suggests the occurrence of unconventional superconductivity with gap nodes. The existence of gap nodes in a strongly spin-orbit coupled superconductor would give rise to spin-split Andreev bound states that are the hallmark of topological superconductivity. Hence, this superconductor emerges as an intriguing candidate TSC.

Source-reported materials — not catalogue approval

Formula	Reported Tc (K)	Pressure (GPa)	Type
Cux(PbSe)5(Bi2Se3)6 Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula.	2.85	Pressure not reported	unknown
Cux(PbSe)5(Bi2Se3)6 Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula.	2.9	Pressure not reported	onset
CuxBi2Se3 Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula.	—	Pressure not reported	unknown