Over the last decade, the possibility of realizing topological superconductivity (TSC) has generated much excitement. TSC can be created in electronic systems where the topological and superconducting orders coexist, motivating the continued exploration of candidate material platforms to this end. Here, we use molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) to synthesize heterostructures that host emergent interfacial superconductivity when a non-superconducting antiferromagnet (FeTe) is interfaced with a topological insulator (TI) (Bi, Sb)2Te3. By performing in-vacuo angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and ex-situ electrical transport measurements, we find that the superconducting transition temperature and the upper critical magnetic field are suppressed when the chemical potential approaches the Dirac point. We provide evidence to show that the observed interfacial superconductivity and its chemical potential dependence is the result of the competition between the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida-type ferromagnetic coupling mediated by Dirac surface states and antiferromagnetic exchange couplings that generate the bicollinear antiferromagnetic order in the FeTe layer.
The surface states of 3D topological insulators in general have negligible quantum oscillations (QOs) when the chemical potential is tuned to the Dirac points. In contrast, we find that topological Kondo insulators (TKIs) can support surface states with an arbitrarily large Fermi surface (FS) when the chemical potential is pinned to the Dirac point. We illustrate that these FSs give rise to finite-frequency QOs, which can become comparable to the extremal area of the unhybridized bulk bands. We show that this occurs when the crystal symmetry is lowered from cubic to tetragonal in a minimal two-orbital model. We label such surface modes as ‘shadow surface states’. Moreover, we show that the sufficient next-nearest neighbor out-of-plane hybridization leading to shadow surface states can be self-consistently stabilized for tetragonal TKIs. Consequently, shadow surface states provide an important example of high-frequency QOs beyond the context of cubic TKIs.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10361055
- Publisher / Repository:
- IOP Publishing
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- New Journal of Physics
- Volume:
- 23
- Issue:
- 12
- ISSN:
- 1367-2630
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- Article No. 123042
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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