Evidence for singular-phonon-induced nematic superconductivity in a topological superconductor candidate Sr0.1Bi2Se3

Precision Control of Amphoteric Doping in Cu x Bi2Se3 Nanoplates

Copper-doped Bi2Se3 (Cu x Bi2Se3) is of considerable interest for tailoring its electronic properties and inducing exotic charge correlations while retaining the unique Dirac surface states. However, the copper dopants in Cu x Bi2Se3 display complex electronic behaviors and may function as either electron donors or acceptors depending on their concentration and atomic sites within the Bi2Se3 crystal lattice. Thus, a precise understanding and control of the doping concentration and sites is of both fundamental and practical significance. Herein, we report a solution-based one-pot synthesis of Cu x Bi2Se3 nanoplates with systematically tunable Cu doping concentrations and doping sites. Our studies reveal a gradual evolution from intercalative sites to substitutional sites with increasing Cu concentrations. The Cu atoms at intercalative sites function as electron donors while those at the substitutional sites function as electron acceptors, producing distinct effects on the electronic properties of the resulting materials. We further show that Cu0.18Bi2Se3 exhibits superconducting behavior, which is not present in Bi2Se3, highlighting the essential role of Cu doping in tailoring exotic quantum properties. This study establishes an efficient methodology for precise synthesis of Cu x Bi2Se3 with tailored doping concentrations, doping sites, and electronic properties.

Atomic Diffusion-Induced Polarization and Superconductivity in Topological Insulator-Based Heterostructures

The proximity effect at a highly transparent interface of an s-wave superconductor (S) and a topological insulator (TI) provides a promising platform to create Majorana zero modes in artificially designed heterostructures. However, structural and chemical issues pertinent to such interfaces have been poorly explored so far. Here, we report the discovery of Pd diffusion-induced polarization at interfaces between superconductive Pd1+x(Bi0.4Te0.6)2 (xPBT, 0 ≤ x ≤ 1) and Pd-intercalated Bi2Te3 by using atomic-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy. Our quantitative image analysis reveals that nanoscale lattice strain and QL polarity synergistically suppress and promote Pd diffusion at the normal and parallel interfaces, formed between Te-Pd-Bi triple layers (TLs) and Te-Bi-Te-Bi-Te quintuple layers (QLs), respectively. Further, our first-principles calculations unveil that the superconductivity of the xPBT phase and topological nature of the Pd-intercalated Bi2Te3 phase are robust against the broken inversion symmetry. These findings point out the necessity of considering the coexistence of electric polarization with superconductivity and topology in such S-TI systems.

Charge-4e Superconductivity from Nematic Superconductors in Two and Three Dimensions

Charge-4e superconductivity as a novel phase of matter remains elusive so far. Here, we show that charge-4e phase can arise as a vestigial order above the nematic superconducting transition temperature in time-reversal-invariant nematic superconductors. On the one hand, the nontrivial topological defect-nematic vortex-is energetically favored over the superconducting phase vortex when the nematic stiffness is less than the superfluid stiffness; consequently the charge-4e phase emerges by proliferation of nematic vortices upon increasing temperatures. On the other hand, the Ginzburg-Landau theory of the nematic superconductors has two distinct decoupling channels to either charge-4e orders or nematic orders; by analyzing the competition between the effective mass of the charge-4e order and the cubic potential of the nematic order, we find a sizable regime where the charge-4e order is favored. These two analyses consistently show that nematic superconductors can provide a promising route to realize charge-4e phases, which may apply to candidate nematic superconductors such as PbTaSe_{2} and twisted bilayer graphene.

Uniaxial-strain control of nematic superconductivity in SrxBi2Se3

Nematic states are characterized by rotational symmetry breaking without translational ordering. Recently, nematic superconductivity, in which the superconducting gap spontaneously lifts the rotational symmetry of the lattice, has been discovered. In nematic superconductivity, multiple superconducting domains with different nematic orientations can exist, and these domains can be controlled by a conjugate external stimulus. Domain engineering is quite common in magnets but has not been achieved in superconductors. Here, we report control of the nematic superconductivity and their domains of SrxBi2Se3, through externally-applied uniaxial stress. The suppression of subdomains indicates that it is the Δ4y state that is most favoured under compression along the basal Bi-Bi bonds. This fact allows us to determine the coupling parameter between the nematicity and lattice distortion. These results provide an inevitable step towards microscopic understanding and future utilization of the unique topological nematic superconductivity.

Phonon softening and higher-order anharmonic effect in the superconducting topological insulator SrxBi2Se3

We report the anharmonic effect of the Raman-scattering spectrum in the low-carrier density superconductor SrxBi2Se3, which is dominated by the quartic term. Compared to the parent Bi2Se3, the superconducting SrxBi2Se3crystals show obvious phonon softening in the three optical phonon modesA1g1,Eg2, andA1g2. Based on the simulations by the Fano function, we present compelling evidence of the enhanced electron-phonon coupling in SrxBi2Se3for its smaller asymmetric parameterq. Moreover, an anomalous broadening and intensity antiresonance in the characteristic Raman peaks were observed as the temperature decreased to around 160 K. Thus, the superconducting topological material SrxBi2Se3represents a counterintuitive example where the electron-phonon interaction is strengthened by the accumulation of electron carriers.

Superconductivity in Cu Co-Doped SrxBi2Se3 Single Crystals

In this study, we grew Cu co-doped single crystals of a topological superconductor candidate SrxBi2Se3, and studied their structural and transport properties. We reveal that the addition of even as small an amount of Cu co-dopant as 0.6 atomic %, completely suppresses superconductivity in SrxBi2Se3. Critical temperature (∼2.7 K) is rather robust with respect to co-doping. We show that Cu systematically increases the electron density and lattice parameters a and c. Our results demonstrate that superconductivity in SrxBi2Se3-based materials is induced by significantly lower Sr doping level x<0.02 than commonly accepted x∼0.06, and it strongly depends on the specific arrangement of Sr atoms in the host matrix. The critical temperature in superconductive Sr-doped Bi2Se3 is shown to be insensitive to carrier density.