Long‐Range Ordered Amorphous Atomic Chains as Building Blocks of a Superconducting Quasi‐One‐Dimensional Crystal

• Published in: Advanced materials (Weinheim) 2020-09, Vol.32 (38), p.e2002352-n/a
• Main Authors: An, Chao, Zhou, Yonghui, Chen, Chunhua, Fei, Fucong, Song, Fengqi, Park, Changyong, Zhou, Jianhui, Rubahn, Horst‐Günter, Moshchalkov, Victor V., Chen, Xuliang, Zhang, Gufei, Yang, Zhaorong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amorphization; Amorphous materials; Chains; combination of crystalline and amorphous structures; Crystal structure; Crystallinity; Crystals; Diamond anvil cells; Fullerenes; high pressures; linear chain compound; Phases; quasi‐1D materials; Superconductivity
• ISSN: 0935-9648; 1521-4095
• DOI: 10.1002/adma.202002352

Crystalline and amorphous structures are two of the most common solid‐state phases. Crystals having orientational and periodic translation symmetries are usually both short‐range and long‐range ordered, while amorphous materials have no long‐range order. Short‐range ordered but long‐range disordered materials are generally categorized into amorphous phases. In contrast to the extensively studied crystalline and amorphous phases, the combination of short‐range disordered and long‐range ordered structures at the atomic level is extremely rare and so far has only been reported for solvated fullerenes under compression. Here, a report on the creation and investigation of a superconducting quasi‐1D material with long‐range ordered amorphous building blocks is presented. Using a diamond anvil cell, monocrystalline (TaSe4)2I is compressed and a system is created where the TaSe4 atomic chains are in amorphous state without breaking the orientational and periodic translation symmetries of the chain lattice. Strikingly, along with the amorphization of the atomic chains, the insulating (TaSe4)2I becomes a superconductor. The data provide critical insight into a new phase of solid‐state materials. The findings demonstrate a first ever case where superconductivity is hosted by a lattice with periodic but amorphous constituent atomic chains. Combination of long‐range ordered and short‐range disordered structures at the atomic level is demonstrated for a quasi‐1D linear chain compound. Under compression, the constituent atomic chains of the material are amorphized without breaking the orientational and periodic translation symmetries of the chain lattice. This lattice of amorphous atomic chains hosts a quantum condensate of Cooper pairs.