Two-dimensional superconductivity at the interface of a Bi2Te3/FeTe heterostructure

Superconductivity at the interface of a heterostructure confined to nanometer-sized scale offers unique opportunities to study the exotic physics of two-dimensional superconductivity. The realization of superconductivity at the interface between a topological insulator and an iron-chalcogenide compo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2014-04
Main Authors: Qing Lin He, Liu, Hongchao, He, Mingquan, Lai, Ying Hoi, He, Hongtao, Wang, Gan, Law, Kam Tuen, Lortz, Rolf, Wang, Jiannong, Sou, Iam Keong
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bismuth tellurides
Critical field (superconductivity)
Fermions
Heterostructures
Superconductivity
Transition temperature
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Summary:Superconductivity at the interface of a heterostructure confined to nanometer-sized scale offers unique opportunities to study the exotic physics of two-dimensional superconductivity. The realization of superconductivity at the interface between a topological insulator and an iron-chalcogenide compound is highly attractive for exploring several recent theoretical predictions involving these two new classes of materials. Here, we report transport measurements on a Bi2Te3/FeTe heterostructure fabricated via van der Waals epitaxy, which demonstrate superconductivity at the interface induced by the Bi2Te3 epilayer with thickness even down to one quintuple layer. The two-dimensional nature of the observed superconductivity with the highest transition temperature around 12 K was verified by the existence of a Berezinsky-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition and the diverging ratio of in-plane to out-plane upper critical field on approaching the superconducting transition temperature. With the combination of interface superconductivity and Dirac surface states of Bi2Te3, the heterostructure studied in this work provides a novel platform for realizing Majorana fermions.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.1309.6040