An official website of the United States government
In light of breakthroughs in superconductivity under high pressure, and considering that record critical temperatures (Tcs) across various systems have been achieved under high pressure, the primary challenge for higher Tcshould no longer solely be to increase Tcunder extreme conditions but also to reduce, or ideally eliminate, the need for applied pressure in retaining pressure-induced or -enhanced superconductivity. The topological semiconductor Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3(BST) was chosen to demonstrate our approach to addressing this challenge and exploring its intriguing physics. Under pressures up to ~50 GPa, three superconducting phases (BST-I, -II, and -III) were observed. A superconducting phase in BST-I appears at ~4 GPa, without a structural transition, suggesting the possible topological nature of this phase. Using the pressure-quench protocol (PQP) recently developed by us, we successfully retained this pressure-induced phase at ambient pressure and revealed the bulk nature of the state. Significantly, this demonstrates recovery of a pressure-quenched sample from a diamond anvil cell at room temperature with the pressure-induced phase retained at ambient pressure. Other superconducting phases were retained in BST-II and -III at ambient pressure and subjected to thermal and temporal stability testing. Superconductivity was also found in BST with Tcup to 10.2 K, the record for this compound series. While PQP maintains superconducting phases in BST at ambient pressure, both depressurization and PQP enhance its Tc, possibly due to microstructures formed during these processes, offering an added avenue to raise Tc. These findings are supported by our density-functional theory calculations.
more »
« less
Tuning magnetic confinement of spin-triplet superconductivity
Abstract Electrical magnetoresistance and tunnel diode oscillator measurements were performed under external magnetic fields up to 41 T applied along the crystallographic b axis (hard axis) of UTe 2 as a function of temperature and applied pressures up to 18.8 kbar. In this work, we track the field-induced first-order transition between superconducting and magnetic field-polarized phases as a function of applied pressure, showing suppression of the transition with increasing pressure until the demise of superconductivity near 16 kbar and the appearance of a pressure-induced ferromagnetic-like ground state that is distinct from the field-polarized phase and stable at zero field. Together with evidence for the evolution of a second superconducting phase and its upper critical field with pressure, we examine the confinement of superconductivity by two orthogonal magnetic phases and the implications for understanding the boundaries of triplet superconductivity.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1917511
- PAR ID:
- 10223380
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- npj Quantum Materials
- Volume:
- 5
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2397-4648
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Abstract Experiments investigating magnetic-field-tuned superconductor–insulator transition (HSIT) mostly focus on two-dimensional material systems where the transition and its proximate ground-state phases, often exhibit features that are seemingly at odds with the expected behavior. Here we present a complementary study of a three-dimensional pressure-packed amorphous indium-oxide (InOx) powder where granularity controls the HSIT. Above a low threshold pressure of ∼0.2 GPa, vestiges of superconductivity are detected, although neither a true superconducting transition nor insulating behavior are observed. Instead, a saturation at very high resistivity at low pressure is followed by saturation at very low resistivity at higher pressure. We identify both as different manifestations of anomalous metallic phases dominated by superconducting fluctuations. By analogy with previous identification of the low resistance saturation as a ‘failed superconductor’, our data suggests that the very high resistance saturation is a manifestation of a ‘failed insulator’. Above a threshold pressure of ∼6 GPa, the sample becomes fully packed, and superconductivity is robust, withTCtunable with pressure. A quantum critical point atPC∼ 25 GPa marks the complete suppression of superconductivity. For a finite pressure belowPC, a magnetic field is shown to induce a HSIT from a true zero-resistance superconducting state to a weakly insulating behavior. Determining the critical field,HC, we show that similar to the 2D behavior, the insulating-like state maintains a superconducting character, which is quenched at higher field, above which the magnetoresistance decreases to its fermionic normal state value.more » « less
-
Kancharla, S (Ed.)We present the magnetic and structural properties of [Cu(pyrazine)0.5(glycine)]ClO4 under applied pressure. As previously reported, at ambient pressure this material consists of quasi-two-dimensional layers of weakly coupled antiferromagnetic dimers which undergo Bose-Einstein condensation of triplet excitations between two magnetic field-induced quantum critical points (QCPs). The molecular building blocks from which the compound is constructed give rise to exchange strengths that are considerably lower than those found in other S = 1/2 dimer materials, which allows us to determine the pressure evolution of the entire field-temperature magnetic phase diagram using radio-frequency magnetometry. We find that a distinct phase emerges above the upper field-induced transition at elevated pressures and also show that an additional QCP is induced at zero field at a critical pressure of pc = 15.7(5) kbar. Pressure-dependent single-crystal x-ray diffraction and density functional theory calculations indicate that this QCP arises primarily from a dimensional crossover driven by an increase in the interdimer interactions between the planes. While the effect of quantum fluctuations on the lower field-induced transition is enhanced with applied pressure, quantum Monte Carlo calculations suggest that this alone cannot explain an unconventional asymmetry that develops in the phase diagram.more » « less
-
Abstract Reentrant superconductivity is an uncommon phenomenon in which the destructive effects of magnetic field on superconductivity are mitigated, allowing a zero-resistance state to survive under conditions that would otherwise destroy it. Typically, the reentrant superconducting region derives from a zero-field parent superconducting phase. Here, we show that in UTe2crystals extreme applied magnetic fields give rise to an unprecedented high-field superconductor that lacks a zero-field antecedent. This high-field orphan superconductivity exists at angles offset between 29oand 42ofrom the crystallographicbtocaxes with applied fields between 37 T and 52 T. The stability of field-induced orphan superconductivity presented in this work defies both empirical precedent and theoretical explanation and demonstrates that high-field superconductivity can exist in an otherwise non-superconducting material.more » « less
-
Field-induced superconductivity is a rare phenomenon where an applied magnetic field enhances or induces superconductivity. Here, we use applied stress as a control switch between a field-tunable superconducting state and a robust non–field-tunable state. This marks the first demonstration of a strain-tunable superconducting spin valve with infinite magnetoresistance. We combine tunable uniaxial stress and applied magnetic field on the ferromagnetic superconductor Eu(Fe0.88Co0.12)2As2to shift the field-induced zero-resistance temperature between 4 K and a record-high value of 10 K. We use x-ray diffraction and spectroscopy measurements under stress and field to reveal that strain tuning of the nematic order and field tuning of the ferromagnetism act as independent control parameters of the superconductivity. Combining comprehensive measurements with DFT calculations, we propose that field-induced superconductivity arises from a novel mechanism, namely, the uniquely dominant effect of the Eu dipolar field when the exchange field splitting is nearly zero.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-020-00270-w
