Coexistence of pressure-induced superconductivity and topological surface states in elementary substance Sb

Abstract

Topological superconductors are expected to host non-Abelian Majorana zero mode which is of fundamental importance for topological quantum computing. However, the discovered topological superconductor candidates are still rare. Here, we systematically studied the topological semimetal antimony Sb through first-principles calculations, and found that a moderate pressure could induce the superconductivity coexisting with topological surface states. The superconducting critical transition temperature (Tc) reaches ∼0.3K under ∼8GPa and the topological surface states can be well preserved. The Tc can be much enhanced to ∼2K through further electron doping. Elementary substance antimony may provide a simple material platform to detect the Majorana boundary states and develop the topological quantum computation.

Source-reported materials — not catalogue approval

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