Ultrathin Films of Superconducting Metals as a Platform for Topological Superconductivity
Chao Lei, Hua Chen, Allan H. MacDonald
DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.227701 · Physical Review Letters
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Abstract
The ingredients normally required to achieve topological superconductivity (TSC) are Cooper pairing, broken inversion symmetry, and broken time-reversal symmetry. We present a theoretical exploration of the possibility of using ultrathin films of superconducting metals as a platform for TSC. Because they necessarily break inversion symmetry when prepared on a substrate and have intrinsic Cooper pairing, they can be TSCs when time-reversal symmetry is broken by an external magnetic field. Using microscopic density functional theory calculations we show that, for ultrathin Pb and β-Sn superconductors, the position of the Fermi level can be tuned to quasi-2D band extrema energies using strain, and that the g factors of states at time-reversal invariant momenta can be extremely large, enhancing the influence of external magnetic fields.
Source-reported materials — not catalogue approval
| Formula | Reported Tc (K) | Pressure (GPa) | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pb Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula. | 7.19 | Pressure not reported | unknown |
| Sn Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula. | 3.72 | Pressure not reported | unknown |
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