Evidence for a new excitation at the interface between a high-T sub(c) superconductor and a topological insulator

High-temperature superconductors exhibit a wide variety of novel excitations. If contacted with a topological insulator, the lifting of spin rotation symmetry in the surface states can lead to the emergence of unconventional superconductivity and novel particles. In pursuit of this possibility, we f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review. B, Condensed matter and materials physics Condensed matter and materials physics, 2014-12, Vol.90 (24)
Main Authors: Zareapour, Parisa, Hayat, Alex, Zhao, Shu Yang F, Kreshchuk, Michael, Lee, Yong Kiat, Reijnders, Anjan A, Jain, Achint, Xu, Zhijun, Liu, T S, Gu, G D, Jia, Shuang, Cava, Robert J, Burch, Kenneth S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Condensed matter
Conductance
ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY
Excitation
INSULATION (ELECTRICAL)
Insulators
INTERFACES
MAGNETIC FIELD
Magnetic fields
Superconductor junctions
SUPERCONDUCTORS
Topology
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Summary:High-temperature superconductors exhibit a wide variety of novel excitations. If contacted with a topological insulator, the lifting of spin rotation symmetry in the surface states can lead to the emergence of unconventional superconductivity and novel particles. In pursuit of this possibility, we fabricated high critical-temperature (T sub(c) ~ 85 K) superconductor/topological insulator (Bi sub(2) Sr sub(2) CaCu sub(2) O sub(8+ delta )/Bi sub(2) Te sub(2) Se) junctions. Below 75 K, a zero-bias conductance peak (ZBCP) emerges in the differential conductance spectra of this junction. The magnitude of the ZBCP is suppressed at the same rate for magnetic fields applied parallel or perpendicular to the junction. Furthermore, it can still be observed and does not split up to at least 8.5 T. The temperature and magnetic field dependence of the excitation we observe appears to fall outside the known paradigms for a ZBCP.
ISSN:1098-0121
1550-235X